Bangor International Airport gives holiday travel update

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – Holiday travel is in full swing at Bangor International Airport.

“I’m coming to celebrate the holiday with friends and family,” explained Shanna Bailey, who’s visiting Maine from Tampa, FL.

There were no major issues Monday at Bangor International Airport as fliers traveled to and from their holiday destinations.

“We’ve got a couple of delays, but they’re very minor, on the board. An hour, a couple of hours, and when you’re talking holiday travel, that’s really not bad at all, so we’ll take it!” said Aimee Thibodeau, marketing and business development manager, Bangor International Airport.

Airport officials say they started to see an increase in travel on Friday.

Experts anticipate the holiday travel season will last through January 2nd or 3rd.

That could be related to the timing of Christmas this year coming right in the middle of the week, tempting travelers to take a longer vacation than they normally would. It could also explain why the airport reports Thanksgiving travel, though solid, was down from expectations.

“So, we kind of think that people might have held out because of this Christmas holiday being in the middle of the week. We started to see the increase last week a little bit, and we do anticipate that it’s going to kind of stretch through the week,” Thibodeau said.

Officials say they’re aware of the storm heading our way overnight into Tuesday, but it shouldn’t have a significant impact on travel plans.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that much of a challenge for our snow team. They know what they’re doing, so as long as we don’t really see like a snow ice mix or some rain in there and we get some of those icy conditions, we should be good,” Thibodeau explained.

“I prepared and just made sure I had enough warm clothes,” Bailey said.

Though there were no major holdups Monday, that could change at any time.

So, if you’re taking to the sky in the next few days, you’re advised to plan accordingly.

“We’re Bangor, but get here two hours ahead of time. We know that, you know, people are lucky. They get really used to being able to come a little bit closer and cut those deadlines a little bit, but make sure that you give yourself plenty of time,” Thibodeau said. “Get parked. Get in. Nobody wants to be stressed out before they head out on their vacation or for their holiday to see families.”

When asked if she had a message to other holiday travelers who would be follwing behind her, Bailey said: “Just be safe and enjoy the holidays.”

Airport officials suggest downloading your airline’s app or checking flybangor.com for all the latest updates.

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