Pacific Coastal Airlines cutting direct flights between Vancouver and Cranbrook | 24CA News
Residents of the Kootenay neighborhood of Cranbrook, B.C., will quickly discover themselves with fewer choices to fly to the coast.
Regional air provider Pacific Coastal Airlines is ending direct flights between Cranbrook’s Canadian Rockies International Airport and Vancouver as of April 28.
Read extra:
Pacific Coastal Airlines briefly suspends flights as a result of Omicron circumstances amongst workers
The firm has cited a scarcity of pilots and plane upkeep crews together with challenges linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eva Gorka, a Cranbrook canine breeder who says she depends on the airline to ship animals round British Columbia, stated she was “shocked” and “disappointed” by the transfer.
“This is terrible because now with Pac Coastal being shut down I will probably have to drive to the Calgary airport to ship some of my dogs,” she stated.
“And driving to Calgary for me sometimes in the winter is not always feasible. So this is very disappointing, it’s hugely disappointing for me. I’m shocked. I don’t understand why they are closing.”
The airline launched the direct service between the locations in 2003; it was suspended for a number of months in the course of the pandemic in 2020.
The Cranbrook airport stated the top of the service will imply the lack of 18 seats per day, and that Air Canada and WestJet flights — representing about 262 seats per day — wouldn’t be affected.
“Really, it’s about the human resource issue that you are seeing in the industry. In all sectors of industry, you are seeing it right now, especially the more technical sides. There are airlines all across North America that are eliminating services, especially the more regional flights,” Cranbrook Mayor Wayne Price stated.
“I think most of all what we are going to miss is the convenience.”
In a media launch earlier this week, Pacific Coastal Airlines said it was additionally taking a look at decreasing capability in different markets in its community to make sure it might preserve a dependable flight schedule this 12 months.
The airline at present flies to 17 airports in B.C.
The firm stated anybody affected by the cancellations can be contacted immediately and supplied a full refund.
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