After five years of construction, the first passengers passed through the gates of Calgary’s new $2 billion airport terminal on Monday.
The completed project doubles the space at the airport, at 185, 000 square metres.
Officials say the new building has all the amenities that travellers are looking for including; automated check-ins, 50 shopping and dining locations and a 300 room hotel.
Security lines are expected to move faster and four passengers will now be able to check through at the same time.
Canada Border Services Agency says the new space will be the agency's primary location in the Prairie Region.
The CBSA says 5,200 travellers can now be accommodated, which is more than double the amount of the old terminal. The agency has also installed 54 automated kiosks, 44 automated border clearance kiosks and 10 NEXUS kiosks.
Passengers who are looking to make connecting flights can take advantage of a new and secure connection corridor.
“We are grateful to the airport authority for all of their hard work on this project. The new CBSA space demonstrates the strong relationship that CBSA has with YYC,” said Kim R. Scoville, Regional Director General, Prairie Region, CBSA.
Last year, the CBSA processed over 2.2 million travellers and over 111,000 NEXUS passages at the Calgary airport.
Monday will be a busy first day for staff at the airport as 130 international flights are scheduled to come through and about 13,000 passengers are expected to use the terminal for the first day.
Henry Stevens with the Calgary Airport Authority says that he has had positive feedback from people about the new terminal already.
"Everything I'm hearing is that it's great. They are just loving the facility, they think it is a spectacular space. Something that Calgarians can be proud of. That's wonderful to hear."
"The speed, especially to the U.S. I brought my mom in, punched in her boarding pass, her luggage tag; got it real quick. You go over to the baggage scan, they scan it really quick and it's in there. Especially for an older person you don't have to lug that suitcase through security. I just think it's phenomenal," said Tony, who was escorting his mother on her trip to New York.
Another man, who uses Calgary International on a regular basis, says that the new terminal will be a new challenge for a little while at least, but he's glad to have it.
"It's nice to see it finally done. They've been talking about it for years."
He says that it's good to have automated processes in place, but he wants to see them for himself before he is completely convinced that they are better.
"Every airport that I go to, and I fly a lot, there is always some complication, some oddity and if you can actually simplify the experience for the traveller, whether it's me who travels all the time or just mom and her kids, it's going to make their day a little happier."
Those using the new terminal are advised to take some extra time to get used to the new facility.
“Leave a little bit of extra time. It’s all new, there are new processes and it’ll also give them a chance to experience the beautiful new facility as they begin their new journey out of YYC,” said Stephens. “Personally, I can’t help but think that having this beautiful new facility is going to be part of the story as well as our current, high level connectivity to destinations around the world.”
Passengers driving to the airport are advised to use the P-2 parkade to park as it is the closest to the new building.
The old terminal will continue to be used for domestic flights in and out of Calgary.
