A third-floor area where people could watch planes take off and land is being converted to office space as Victoria International Airport deals with a space crunch.
The Eagles Landing observation lounge, which had about 20 seats on the pre-screening side of the terminal, closed this week and is now in the midst of being turned into offices.
A total of 67 employees work for the airport, which is dealing with a number of pressures that affect staffing, spokesman Rod Hunchak said Friday.
He said those include the “ever-increasing regulatory environment” facing all airports, increasing passenger numbers as the airport recovers from declines due to the pandemic, and meeting public expectations for airport programs and services.
“With the current numbers, we are at capacity and we need to find additional space to allow us to grow.”
The observation lounge’s seats have been set up elsewhere in the terminal’s main level.
Members of the public and staff will be able to continue to use seating behind the Tim Horton’s outlet to watch activity on the tarmac, Hunchak said.
Another pre-screening seating area — a portion of the Fireside Lounge behind the Fickle Fig Farm Market — has been closed to the public to provide more screening space for airport workers, he said.
Hunchak said the airport is on track to beat last year’s total of 1.74 million passengers.
In August, YYJ handled 204,466 passengers, up by four per cent from August of last year and the second-busiest month in the airport’s history, trailing only August of 2018. That year, the airport set an all-time record high, with 2.048 million passengers.
September figures are also looking promising, said Hunchak, who anticipates they could beat the September 2018 high.
Meanwhile, the airport authority has signed a new contract with SSP Canada to manage the majority of its food and beverage services starting this month.
The company is a division of the London, England-based SSP Group, which operates in approximately 180 airports and 300 rail stations in 36 countries around the world, an airport statement said.
SSP took over the contract from the previous operator, said Hunchak, who did not reveal more details.
SSP will oversee the operations of three food and beverage locations at the Victoria Airport: Spinnakers On The Fly, Fresh Cup Café & Bar and Tim Hortons, the statement said. The Fickle Fig Farm Market will continue to operate independently in the pre-security area.
SSP Canada is already operating in 10 Canadian airports and is aiming to expand to several more within the next year and a half, it said.
Recent changes to the food and beverage program at YYJ include the opening of Fresh Cup Café & Bar in 2019, the closure of White Spot and, most recently, renovations to Spinnakers On The Fly last year that saw seating doubled, the addition of a Grab and Go area and the expansion of its kitchen area, the statement said.
The airport is also exploring options for future terminal expansion, Hunchak said.
The airport authority says about 5,000 travellers a day go through the airport.
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