Whitehorse airport parking fees to rise by Christmas

The Yukon government will be hiking the cost of parking at the Whitehorse airport  to $5 a day from $1.50 in an effort to free up some spots in the lot.

It's one of a number of changes expected by Christmas, which also include a maximum time limit of 30 days after which vehicles will be subject to being towed.

"It's still cheaper than parking downtown, still the cheapest parking at an airport in Canada probably," said Allan Nixon, assistant deputy minister with the Department of Highways and Public Works.

Officials took the unusual step of warning the public Friday there was no parking available at the airport for the Thanksgiving weekend, after noticing the more than 500 spots were filling up fast Friday morning.

Driving around and around looking for an empty spot has become common at the airport on long weekends. But Jay Glass says it was a first for him.

"It's inconvenient, but what are you going to do, there's only so many spots," he said. "Had we known. we would maybe have taken a taxi, and that's what I suggest for anybody else today, but luckily we found one."

Nixon says he understands people worrying about making their flights don't want the added grief of a full parking lot.

"We hear from the public fairly regularly about parking at the airport, absolutely," he said. "Everyone's got an opinion, and a lot of people say 'Just tow everybody.' Well that works until it's your vehicle that gets towed. 'Ticket everybody;' that works until it's your vehicle that gets ticketed."

Nixon says contrary to local speculation there aren't many abandoned vehicles at the airport.