‘More than disappointing’: Air Canada to stop direct flights to Calgary from Regina, Saskatoon | 24CA News

Saskatchewan residents seeking to fly direct to Alberta’s largest metropolis will quickly have one much less airline with which to take action.

24CA News has confirmed that Air Canada shall be cancelling direct flights from the Saskatoon and Regina airports to Calgary in mid-January.

“It is a bit disappointing for the airport and the community,” stated C.J. Dushinski, the Saskatoon Airport Authority’s vice chairman of business improvement and repair high quality.

“It certainly limits the amount of options available for travellers that are looking to get to Calgary or looking to travel beyond the connect.”

Dushinski and Justin Reves, the Regina airport’s supervisor of buyer expertise and advertising, instructed 24CA News that Air Canada knowledgeable their respective airports that direct service to Calgary will finish Jan. 16.

The Saskatoon airport authority hopes the airline will add extra seats to different hubs, reminiscent of Toronto and Vancouver, and that WestJet will add seats or service to Calgary, Dushinski stated.

The Regina airport has contacted different airways, together with WestJet, about potential service, Reves stated.

“Calgary is a huge market for the city of Regina,” he stated.

“A lot of people, friends, family, business connections [are] there, and it’s primarily going to be disappointing for Air Canada customers who are used to being able to fly that route.”

Air Canada solely provided one direct flight per day from Regina to Calgary, he added, as compared with West Jet, which at the moment runs a number of flights every day.

Focus on rebuilding primary hubs of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, Air Canada says

People flying out of Saskatoon and Regina will proceed to see flights to and from Toronto and Vancouver, an Air Canada spokesperson instructed 24CA News.

Saskatchewan residents will nonetheless be capable to fly to Calgary, however solely by way of different locations, reminiscent of Vancouver.

Public well being tips aimed to stymie the potential unfold of COVID-19 affected all journey. Airports and airways hemorrhaged cash on account of decrease passenger visitors.

Air Canada has made modifications to numerous routes to and from Calgary because it rebuilds from the affect of the pandemic, which implies inspecting the community and the place it might be best to deploy assets, the spokesperson stated.

The airline has determined to deal with rebuilding its primary hubs: Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, they stated.

The announcement is a savvy business transfer, stated Karl Moore, an affiliate professor with McGill University’s school of administration in Montreal. He has beforehand consulted for Air Canada, amongst different corporations.

Air Canada is load ranges — how many individuals fill sure flights and the way a lot they pay — to see which flights are unprofitable, or which routes or hubs might be extra worthwhile, Moore defined.

“They spend a lot of time thinking about that and that’s what good business people do,” Moore stated, noting that WestJet made an analogous transfer by chopping service on the east coast.

In an open letter to Air Canada, Economic Development Regina additionally expressed their concern and disappointment concerning the airline’s transfer to cancel direct flights from Saskatchewan to Calgary.

The suspension of those routes triples the journey time between Saskatchewan’s capital and Calgary, stated Chris Lane, president and CEO of Economic Development Regina.

His group is asking Air Canada to rethink their choice and to decide to an growth of their service to Regina, whereas trying on the metropolis’s position in the case of supplying “sustainable food and fertilizer” to the world, stated Lane.

“As one of Canada’s fastest growing economies and population areas, the need for connectivity and the opportunity it presents for airlines is as necessary as it is mutually beneficial,” he stated within the letter.

“[Regina’s] population will grow by almost 10 per cent in the next five years. Calgary’s numbers are similar and so are Saskatoon’s. That the flag carrier airline of Canada would choose to suspend direct connectivity between these regions at this time is more than disappointing; it is ill-considered.”