Planes aren't full enough, Kamloops losing flights to Edmonton

Kamloops just can't keep hold of non-stop flights to Edmonton.

This week, Flair Airlines announced it will be discontinuing flights between Kamloops and Edmonton on Sept. 6.

The service started on June 18, which means it won't even last three months.

Kamloops last had non-stops to Edmonton six years ago with WestJet.

WestJet attempted to relaunch the service in the summer of 2021, but it never got off the ground because of the pandemic.

Flair was to be Kamloops' knight in shining armour for the route.

Kamloops Airport, Flair and Kamloops citizens were all excited when the Kamloops-Edmonton plan was revealed back in May.

However, the route has proven to be a disappointment.

Flair is using 189-seat Boeing 737 Max jets to fly twice-a-week (Sundays and Wednesdays) between Kamloops and Edmonton.

That plane is clearly too big.

Most of the jets have been taking off only a little more than half-full and Flair needs more like 80% capacity to make the route viable.

It has other city pairings where the plane can be used at greater capacity.

Flair's fleet is completely bigger 737s, so it doesn't have the option of putting a smaller plane on the route.

When the route and twice-weekly flights were announced in May, Kamloops Airport managing director Ed Ratuski admitted it was a lot of seats to full for a new service.

However, he said both the airport and Flair were working hard to raise awareness of the new service in an effort to get passengers from both Kamloops and Edmonton to book flights.

There were even luring one-way fares starting as low as $29.

It wasn't enough and the 189-seat jets didn't fill up.

Other airlines that fly in and out of Kamloops Airport use 76-seat Q400 turbo-propeller planes.

Air Canada does such four times daily to Vancouver and WestJet is four times a day to Calgary.

Once the non-stops to the Alberta capital end on Sept. 6, passengers that want to fly from Kamloops to Edmonton will have to fly to either Vancouver or Calgary to get on a connecting flight.

Or, they could drive two hours to Kelowna to catch a non-stop to Edmonton with WestJet or Flair.

On Oct. 17, Pacific Coastal Airlines will launch six-times-a-week flights between Kamloops and Victoria using a 19-seat Beechcraft plane.

Kamloops Airport is in rebuilding mode.

During COVID it lost daily flights to Prince George with Central Mountain Air and service to Vancouver with Pacific Coastal.

Pacific Coastal is coming back with what is likely a better fit for Kamloops with the introduction of non-stops to Victoria.

In the summer of 2019, Air Canada Rouge flew non-stop between Kamloops and Toronto.

Kamloops Airport would like that route back.

Flair has been aggressive in the ultra-low-cost market in Canada, offering flights in and out of 23 cities across the country (Kelowna, Abbotsford, Vancouver, Victoria, Prince George, Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Windsor, Kitchener, London, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Deer Lake, St. John, Charlottetown and Halifax).

It also flies between select Canadian cities and US cities (New York, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Nashville and Las Vegas) and sunspots in Mexico and the Caribbean (Punta Cana, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Punta Cana).