Staff at the YYC Calgary International Airport are ready to handle the thousands of passengers that will pass through the facility on Thursday for what expected to be the busiest day of the Christmas holidays.

To organize resources properly to handle the rush, officials at YYC and many airlines say they have brought in extra personnel to help with long lineups.

Passengers are also being reminded to give themselves some extra time if they are flying out of the airport. If you are flying domestic, you should arrive two hours before your flight and passengers going to international destinations should get there three to four hours early.

You should also check about all the regulations into border crossings and confirm your luggage and pet allowances to give yourself some extra time too.

Passengers heading out of town on Thursday morning say things are busier at the airport this year, but it’s nothing that they can’t handle.

“This year it’s been steady. Nothing too crazy,” said one woman. “It’s been not so bad. There’s been chairs where we can sleep on.”

Another woman says she’s noticed that it’s just been a normal day at the airport so far.

“It’s been pretty smooth. We try to get organized as early as possible and make sure we have everything packed really early. We travel a lot and we travel light, so it’s not really too much of a big deal.”

Canada Border Services also reminds people to check the list of items they can’t bring on board flights. For example, passengers will need to make sure all their liquid containers are 100 ml or less.

Lastly, everyone flying out on Thursday will need to make sure they have their boarding pass and photo ID ready for inspection by ticket agents and other staff members.

Officials will also have a number of the same programs in place that they had during the pre-Christmas rush to help ease stress of passengers at the facility.

YYC Calgary International Airport has already seen more than 17 million people in 2018, about one million more passengers than last year.

Nearly 750,000 people will go through the airport during the last two weeks of December.