It’s been a busy year at YQR International.

The Airport Authority says one of the biggest projects in 2019 was the renovations on the second floor.

President and CEO James Bogusz said this included moving a few food services and the convenience store to post security. “In addition we were able to add a whole pile of new seats. These are more modern seating that may include things like USB and power plugs. We also have comfortable couches, some larger, more high-back seats to really improve the experience for the customer. In addition, we tripled the speed of our wifi network.”

Bogusz said the airport is also just opening a new child’s play area so kids can burn off some energy before sitting on the plane.

He said this year Air Canada added a third daily flight to Vancouver. “We had two flights with Air Canada before and as of December 23rd, so just at the end of the year, they are now offering three flights a day which is really great growth for of course our community.”

Bogusz said on a negative note, YQR saw some reductions in service in 2019 because of the grounding of the Max 737 aircraft, including Westjet flights to Phoenix and Orlando. He added that those will be coming back at the end of January through Sunwing.

Even though it was a busy year, Bogusz said that didn’t stop him from focusing on marketing to US carriers.

Bogusz said the hope was to bring back a non-stop service to a US hub. “We were so thrilled when council did pass the ability for the airport to receive a tax exemption, back in August, which will allow us to now use those new funds to help reduce the financial risk of an airline re-entering our market. So we are very optimistic, we are hopeful in 2020 that we can attract an airline back.”

He said this didn’t happen this year, but those efforts will continue into 2020.