Yellowknife Airport has security staff patrolling drop-off zone

Yellowknife’s airport has begun using security staff to sweep its drop-off and pick-up area for stragglers.

Newly assigned staff spent time training outside the airport earlier this month. On Tuesday, the airport confirmed they will work to “keep the flow of traffic moving.”

A combination of staff and designated no-parking areas is intended to stop people parking in the zone for significant lengths of time.

“Vehicles are not to park in front of the terminal,” the airport warned on Twitter, and people should not leave vehicles unattended in the pick-up or drop-off zones.

Since pandemic travel restrictions were lifted, parking at Yellowknife Airport has taken on all the lawless joie de vivre and gasoline-fuelled bravado of Mad Max: Fury Road.

The barriers have been left open for months, allowing anyone into the long-stay parking lot for free – a feature increasingly exploited by passengers in their rush to travel following the easing of restrictions. It’s not clear when that welcome but uncertain relief will end.

The airport recently acknowledged long-term parking can sometimes be a crapshoot with the summer travel season well under way, directing travellers to its website for a list of alternative parking locations.