YVR gears up for the busiest travel day of the holiday season

The holiday travel season is ramping up this weekend as many people head out of town to see friends and family.

Friday is expected to be the busiest day of the holiday season at Vancouver International Airport, when about 80,000 passengers are expected to make their way through the terminal.

Some are going to see loved ones elsewhere, while others have come here seeking what they call a truly “Canadian Christmas.”

“A white Christmas. We’re here because in Australia, it's summertime, so we've just had a week of 40-degree weather, so it's been a big heat wave. I'm very excited for a white Christmas, hopefully, and just the cold. It's gonna be completely different. I can't wait,” said Abbey Kroon, from Adelaide, Australia.

“We're over here in Canada, traveling over to Calgary now, so gonna be able to do some snowboarding, which would be nice and fun,” said Callum Cerr, who was also visiting from Australia.

YVR is expected to see 1.2 million passengers travel through its terminals between Friday and Jan. 4. The airport says it’s prepared for crowds with extra staff on hand to help.

“Make sure that you're prepared. Have all your documents, check the website before you're going, make sure your flight's on time. Get here two to three hours early for domestic, three to four for international,” said Eric Pateman, chief experience officer and vice president of passenger experience at Vancouver International Airport.

Even when there’s clear skies in Vancouver, that may not be the case at destination airports which could impact travellers’ journeys.

“We've got 80 pieces of snow removal equipment, 29 de-icing trucks. We're ready to go for anything that Mother Nature throws at us,” said Pateman.

However, the possibility of snow is the whole point of the trip for the McMurray family from Sydney, Australia.

“We've come into Vancouver on Monday. I've got an uncle that lives here, so we spent some time with him. We're flying to Banff, and then we're spending Christmas in Lake Louise for a white Christmas.”

The McMurray sons say the best part of travelling to the other side of the world was that there was no school.

Drivers are encouraged to book online ahead of time to secure a parking space.

Anyone picking up friends and family at the airport is encouraged to take advantage of a new feature.

“We added 30 minutes of free parking about a month ago. It's doing really well. The goal is to get people off the curb. We always end up with curb congestion either pick up or drop off, so now you can take your time, get into the parkade, drop your guests off, and then exit,” said Pateman.