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The grounding of the 737 Max 8 aircraft in Canada may have some travelers breathing a sigh of relief, but it will mean some scheduling headaches for airlines and their passengers.
Kelowna Airport Director Sam Samaddar said the loss of the planes means airlines have to do a lot of re-positioning to do to look after their customers and that's already led to delays.
"It's very dynamic," said Samaddar. "The flight ops folks both at Air Canada and Westjet are extremely busy in terms of how do they take the 737 Max out of their inventory and reposition other aircraft to make sure that they trying to accommodate the passengers." The first Kelowna flight affected by the ban wasn't even one of the kind of planes that have been grounded, but it had to be moved to get to move passengers from another airport. The airport director said this is the kind of "repositioning" that air carriers will have to do to manage the loss of the Max aircraft. The ban on the aircraft comes as traffic volumes ramp up for spring break. "And that really is a complicating factor in all of this," said Samaddar.
Customers should expect some delays. "I would suggest that they check with their airline to determine exactly what's happening with the status of their specific flight, but I know the airlines right now are working very, very hard to try to resolve this issue," he said. The's one thing Samaddar is certain of, the air carriers will be working hard to get people to where they need to go. "The airlines are very adept," he said, "at trying to do the best that they can sometimes in some difficult situations."
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