Hawkair is preparing to change its Prince Rupert flight schedule to better service the business community.
Hawkair is planning to have flights depart the Prince Rupert Airport (YPR) at 8 a.m. five days a week starting in August, returning from the Vancouver International Airport at about 5:45 p.m.
There will still be mid-day flights on Mondays and Fridays for the remainder of the summer, with two flights departing and arriving in Prince Rupert on those days.
A Dash-8 aircraft will remain at YPR overnight in order to leave early the following morning.
Hawkair currently brings flight passengers from Vancouver in either the late morning or early afternoon, depending on the day, with an aircraft leaving Digby Island at 1:15 p.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, or at 2:45 p.m. on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
“We’ve been doing a mid-day schedule in Prince Rupert for a number of years, and it’s just not working for the business community,” said Jocelyn Lebell, Hawkair’s director of corporate services, who along with company president Jay Dilley announced the changes at the Prince Rupert and District Chamber of Commerce luncheon last Tuesday.
“We’re going to give this community what it is asking for,” Lebell said.
“It’s exciting … to be looking at a longer term new commitment to this community to help support the growth and prosperity we are seeing from the boom just starting to happen,” said Dilley.
Hawkair started providing passenger and cargo service in Prince Rupert in 2001.
