VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Fully vaccinated Canadians will soon be able to once again catch flights just across the border.
The U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security has confirmed the country will re-open its land borders and ports of entry to non-essential travel in November for Canada and Mexico.
Jack Penning with Bellingham International Airport says before the pandemic, more than half of their passengers were Canadian.
“The border re-opening is really a key to making the airport work,” Penning said, adding it’s good timing since Southwest Airlines is launching service out of that airport to places like Las Vegas early next month.
“The population in Bellingham itself is not enough to support Southwest Airlines’ service. But when you add in the two-million-plus people that are just across the border in British Columbia, it’s a huge opportunity for Bellingham International Airport. It’s also a huge opportunity for Vancouver to access affordable service to places all over the United States.”
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An exact date for the re-opening of the U.S. land border to Canadians has not yet been announced, but proof of vaccination will be required for anyone entering the United States.
However, it’s not clear if that policy will include mixed doses. Vaccines approved by either the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the World Health Organization will be accepted, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed this week.
But CDC stayed mum on the question of whether those who received a mixed course of vaccines – one dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca and one of Moderna, for instance – would be considered fully vaccinated for travel purposes.
Unlike air travel, for which proof of a negative COVID-19 test is required before boarding a flight to enter the U.S., no testing will be required to enter the U.S. by land or sea, provided the travellers meet the vaccination requirement, Higgins confirmed in a press conference on Wednesday.
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Like other destinations worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant a huge drop in the number of people travelling through Bellingham. Penning says passenger numbers have been slowly coming back up.
“We certainly hope that the [land] border re-opening will immediately boost Bellingham passengers.”
About 200,000 passengers from B.C. drove across the border to fly out of Bellingham in 2019, according to Penning. Flying out of that airport can make financial sense for many British Columbians, depending on their destination.
“The way that the federal transportation taxes in the U.S. work means on the very same fare, the overall ticket price is much cheaper than if you were to fly out of a Canadian airport,” Penning said.