Air Canada has announced it will begin spring shoulder service to Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) between April 22 to May 28.
Flying twice weekly on Saturdays and Sundays with the A319, the new service means year-round Air Canada Rouge service from Kelowna International Airport (YLW) to Toronto.
“YLW has been working toward year-round service to Toronto with its airline partners for several years now,” said Sam Samaddar, YLW airport director.
“With the new Spring service with Air Canada Rouge and the existing services provided by WestJet and Air Canada, it is great to see that we now have excellent access to this very important global gateway.”
YYZ is a global hub for Kelowna’s travellers. With just one stop in Toronto, passengers are connected to over 180 destinations around the world.
“We’ve been working closely with YYZ to grow this service and see it succeed,” said Samaddar. “Since 2015, we’ve seen capacity on the Toronto service grow by 23 per cent.”
Frequency varies throughout the year, from daily service on the A321 during peak periods to two times per week on the A319 during the shoulder seasons.
Recently, Westjet announced a new red-eye flight from Kelowna to Toronto starting May 18 and running daily between the end of June and the start of September.
The flight will leave Kelowna at 12:05 a.m. and get into Toronto at 7:14 a.m. local time. For the first six weeks the new Westjet flight will run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. From Sept. 6 to Oct. 8 it will only run on Tuesdays. Fridays and Sundays.
Kelowna’s airport, the 11th busiest in Canada, has continued to see the number of passengers using it rise in the first two months of 2017. Both months set records following continuous growth throughout 2016 which saw a record 1.7 million passengers pass through its terminal.