Air Canada has announced it will gradually suspend the majority of its international and U.S. transborder flights, which directly affects the Kelowna International Airport.
From March 23 to April 30, the airport will no longer be conducting flights to Toronto and Edmonton.
“The changes are a part of demand and people not travelling,” said Sam Samaddar, the airport’s director.
“At least we continue to have some Air Canada service, we’re not losing all of it. Other communities like Kamloops and Penticton will be losing all Air Canada service at this point.”
READ MORE: Kelowna International Airport expects traffic volume to drop by 50 per cent
Air Canada will continue to operate a limited number of international air-bridge flights between one or more of its Canadian hubs. The cities include London, Paris, Frankfurt, Deli, Tokyo and Hong Kong from April 1 to April 30.
These changes will reduce Air Canada’s international network fleet from 101 cities down to six.
From April 1, Air Canada will also reduce intercontentinal routes from 53 airports to 13. The transborder network will continue to serve Boston, Washington, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. There is also the potential for a further reductions based on the demand that happens with respect to government announcements.
Air Canada’s domestic routes are going from 62 down to 40, which means there are 22 Canadian Airports where the airline will not provide any service.
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