Recovery from the pandemic continues for the Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport, but a spokesperson for Skyxe is optimistic for 2023. Vice President of Business Development and Service Quality, CJ Duchinski, explains that in the first months of 2022, there were still some pandemic restrictions, fewer people were traveling, and there were COVID-19 variants causing concern. Then, summer hit and more people began travelling again, to the point where some months were at 80 per cent recovery compared to pre-pandemic in 2019, and it has continued through the end of the year. She expects for the year overall, they will be at between 63 and 65 per cent recovery.

Duchinski says with the resurgence of people travelling this year, there were operational challenges to ramp up to meet the demand. Across the country, it took awhile for airlines and airports to catch up with labour and supply shortages, then the perfect storm of weather issues and the busiest travel season of the year hit. Plans were cancelled, trips were delayed or cancelled, and some people were challenged with finding a way to their destination or back home, with long lineups and overnight stays at some airports.