A new boss will be taking over at the Kamloops Airport next month.

Heather McCarley will be leaving her job as managing director after taking a new job at YVR, at the corporate office with the Vantage Airport Group.

McCarley held the positions in Kamloops for 18 months and says she’s proud of several things that have happened in that time.

“Rehabilitation of the float-plane base, which was huge for general aviation and float plane operators here at the airport. And other things like the rainbow crosswalk, which I think is really important for the community. Also the Air Canada Rouge inaugural flight, and supporting WestJet in their inaugural service.”

McCarley came on board at the airport in September of 2017, and in 2018 YKA had its best year ever for passengers with more than 350,000.

In her place, Ed Ratuski will be taking over as the managing director at YKA.

Ratuski is a longtime Kamloops resident and was the airport’s operations manager from 2010 to 2016. He’s currently working for the Vantage Group in New York City to help redevelop a terminal at the LaGuardia Airport.

McCarley says going forward, a focus will be continuing air service development.

“It’s a continued for focus, those new routes or new services that make sense for Kamloops. The focus going ahead will be that, and it’ll be the 80th anniversary for the Kamloops Airport this year. So there’s a real opportunity there to celebrate that milestone.”