After holiday chaos, YVR operating at almost full capacity – with some delays

Following days of holiday travel chaos, the Vancouver airport is operating at almost full capacity on Boxing Day, according to officials.

Approximately 65,000 passengers on 572 flights are expected to pass through Vancouver International Airport on Monday, according to an operational update provided on Twitter shortly before noon.

"YVR is operating at 97% of originally scheduled flights," the update said. "As weather and forecasts continue to improve, we have stood down our major snow event response. However, we are keeping our enhanced passenger support teams in place for the foreseeable future.

Travellers are still urged to check for flight updates through their airline.

As of 1 p.m., there was only one cancelled departure – a Pacific Coastal flight to Trail – on the YVR departures website, though there were dozens of delays. A number of flights left between one hour and 90 minutes late Monday morning.

Officials said the airport operated at about 93 per cent capacity on Christmas Day as well. Some social media users reported having relatively normal experiences at YVR that day, including one who described boarding their flight as "smooth sailing."

Some would-be travellers remain in limbo, however, due to the mass cancellations from last week.

On Friday, YVR began providing access to hundreds of hotel rooms and restaurant gift cards for people stuck waiting for replacement flights, though the hotel and meal vouchers are set to expire after Tuesday.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Kevin Charach