Bellingham airport sees return of Canadian crowds

Now that fully vaccinated Canadians are once again able to drive into the U.S., the airport in Bellingham — once popular with snowbirds — is rumbling back to life.

Bellingham International Airport is like a lot of things in northwest Washington state: pretty much geared toward Canadians trying to save money on flights to warmer places.

But without that traffic over the past year and a half, the parking lot at BLI has been less than full.

“Bookings on the day that the border reopening was announced more than doubled for all of our service and we’re starting, already, to see the parking lot fill up,” Jack Penning, a consultant with the airport, explained.

Related articles: 

• Flood of British Columbians head south as U.S. land border reopens

• Driving across the Canada-U.S. land border? Here’s what you need to know

• What you need to know if you’re flying into the U.S. come Nov. 8

“We are anticipating that by December our passengers will double over where they were over the summer, back to about 25,000 a month, which would put us back to where we were in 2019.”

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of the Canada-U.S. border to all but essential traffic in March 2020. It brought not only ground traffic to a halt, but air travel too.

But as COVID-19 situations began to improve, travel restrictions have slowly begun to ease. Canada announced earlier this year it would begin allowing fully vaccinated U.S. travellers to drive into this country for non-essential travel starting in August — but the States didn’t reciprocate that move until Nov. 8.

On Monday, lineups of Canadians eager to head south for a quick trip were seen across the country, including in B.C.

At the Peace Arch crossing, wait times were as long as an hour for those heading into the U.S. — something that hasn’t been seen in months.

Here's what you need to know if you're crossing into the US today: https://t.co/w4z4DfTw6D@CityNewsVAN https://t.co/6YIWyy88OK

— Peter Wagner (@peterjontheair) November 8, 2021

While preparations to welcome Canadians back were required at many businesses and even at the border, Penning says Bellingham International has been in a good position throughout the pandemic.

He explains BLI has been able to retain most of its staff thanks to payroll protection and funding throughout the pandemic. That means the airport won’t need to go searching for the bodies needed to fill the positions.

“The airport was really well prepared. Of course, there’s been a lot of changes, in cleaning protocols, in the filtering of the air in our terminal. There’s been a lot of work done to ensure that our travellers are safe,” he explained, adding work has also been done to try to space out which gates are being used in an effort to help space people out.

“All of the concessions have reopened in the airport, we are ready to go. All of TSA, the security infrastructure is staffed up so that we can keep the lines short and keep people distanced,” he added.

He says it is a happy day that the Lower Mainland and northwest Washington can, once again, reconnect in person.

Flights out of Bellingham serve destinations that are very popular with Canadians looking to escape the colder, winter months for brighter, sunnier destinations.

BLI is also boasting a new airline, adding service to snowbird-friendly locales like Phoenix and Palm Springs.

“Their timing simply could not have been better,” Penning said.