The Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen joins those opposed to Air Canada’s flight cutbacks at the Penticton airport.
Air Canada announced last month it will use a larger plane, but will be cutting back the spring/summer fourth flight that flies from Penticton to Vancouver.
Directors voted Thursday to send a letter to Air Canada requesting the seasonal flight be reinstated. The letter will also be sent to local MLAs and MPs.
Related: Air Canada cuts fourth flight from Penticton to Vancouver
“We feel very strongly it’s going to be a big impact. We all use that morning and night flight for business trips and I know a lot of constituents rely on that evening flight in from Vancouver when they’ve been away on holidays because it’s often the only connection back from getting in from Vancouver,” Karla Kozakevich, chair of the RDOS said.
She said if the flight is not reinstated there will be an impact at the Penticton Regional Airport.
“You’re going to see a very big increase of folks having to get their flights in and out of Kelowna, so it’s going to be a major impact to the Penticton airport, to Penticton citizens to citizens all the way to the south down tot Osoyoos and over to Princeton that rely on flights out of Penticton,” she said.
The new schedule starts May and will see flights leave Penticton during the week at 9:35 a.m., 12:40 p.m. and 7:35 p.m. Previously during spring and summer months the earliest flight was 6 a.m. and the latest return was 11 p.m.
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