Why Charlottetown Airport is offering colouring books to early-morning passengers

The Charlottetown Airport is supplying free colouring books to help pass the time in an effort to encourage passengers to show up two hours before early morning flights.

The airport has three flights leaving between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., and is requesting passengers show up early to avoid delays.

Vanessa Smith, marketing and communications manager for the Charlottetown Airport Authority, said Air Canada and WestJet have a strict 45-minute cut-off time for domestic flights.

"There's really just a big push in the morning," she said.

"We have close to 500 passengers trying to get out between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. The rest of the day the flight schedule is more nicely spread out throughout the day so we don't have that need as much."

Restaurant open early

Air Canada and WestJet's check-in counters will open daily at 3 a.m. and 4:10 a.m., respectively, to begin processing passengers.

Budley's Restaurant, in both locations in the airport, will be open after 3 a.m., Smith said.

There is also free Wi-Fi and an interactive Just Go wall, featuring photos of destinations around the world.

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