With the airline industry facing staggering losses due to the pandemic – the Kamloops Airport was forced to layoff about half of their operational staff.

YKA Managing Director Ed Ratuski says the layoffs happened early in the pandemic and mostly affected field maintenance personnel who also serve as emergency responders.

“So we did have to release about 50-per cent of our operational staff but maintain enough to keep the airport running safe and secure per the regulatory requirements,” he said, noting one of two shifts was eliminated.

“They were generally here on two shifts or 20 hours a day to cover all of the commercial passenger flights. And with the reduction in traffic and the flights generally happening within the four or five hour period, that’s where the largest decrease came was releasing those staff to only cover the one shift.”

Third quarter results released Thursday show a 60-per cent decline in the number of flights to Kamloops, and an 83-percent reduction in overall passenger numbers compared to last year.