Andrea Klassen – Kamloops This Week
WestJet Encore service between Kamloops and Edmonton is officially set to being on Feb. 15, 2015, but Kamloops Airport manager Fred Legace said he’s hoping between now and then the airline will consider a slight tweak to the start date.
“It would be nice to have a couple of days earlier to take advantage of the Alberta Family Day, because they all come here. People from Edmonton like Kamloops and they all come here,” Legace said.
The service expansion, announced on April 11, will see one flight a day between the Tournament Capital and the City of Champions.
The Edmonton flight will depart at 2:45 p.m., landing in Kamloops at 3:15 p.m. A flight back to Edmonton leaves at 3:45 p.m., arriving at 6:01 p.m.
Legace made a trip to WestJet’s Calgary headquarters earlier this year to pitch the idea of Edmonton service. While the airline was intrigued, Legace said there was no room in the schedule at the time.
“They were a little bit surprised at the numbers and saw an opportunity then, but we could not capitalize,” he said. “With not enough airplanes, not enough crews, it was not the time.”
But, as the company has begun to take on more planes and crews as part of an expansion in eastern Canada, it freed up some extra plane time for Kamloops.
While the airline recently pulled its Vancouver service out of the airport, Legace said Edmonton is a very different market.
“With the Edmonton market, they have a chance to be the sole provider, so the once-daily flight is good,” he said. “If you’re going into Vancouver, you need to provide a longer range of schedule.”
