Two new flights to Mexico take off from Kelowna

It's time for more and more Mexico from Kelowna International Airport.

Yesterday at 10:45 am, the first, seasonal, non-stop flight from Kelowna to Mazatlan with Sunwing took off.

The service to Mazatlan will continue throughout the winter every Thursday.

And this morning at 9, Sunwing will again depart Kelowna, this time for its first, seasonal, non-stop to Cancun.

The flights will continue between Kelowna and Cancun every Friday throughout the winter.

Sunwing will use Boeing 737s with about 170 seats on both routes.

Sunwing's non-stops to Mazatlan and Cancun join five other services to sun destinations from Kelowna -- three-times-weekly flights to Cancun with WestJet that started Oct. 29, twice-weekly service to Puerto Vallarta with WestJet that began Oct. 28, twice-a-week to Las Vegas with WestJet starts today at 8:45 am, and weekly flights, again with WestJet, to Cabo San Lucas (started Nov. 4) and Phoenix (began Nov. 15).

While Kelowna is considered paradise, it is still a four-seasons paradise that people want to escape from for a week or two every winter to a tropical paradise.

Kelowna airport bats above its weight when it comes to winter non-stops to sunspots.

With a frequency of 11 flights a week to six hot destinations, Kelowna airport can draw sunseeking vacationers from throughout the Okanagan, Thompson, Similkameen and Kootenays.

As a result, Kelowna has more flights and more sun destinations than bigger cities -- Victoria, for example.

The winter action also helps put Kelowna airport into two-million-passengers-a-year territory, making it the 10th busiest airport in Canada.

Also at the airport, seasonal, daily flights between Kelowna and Seattle with Alaska Airlines started yesterday.

Today, to mark the first, seasonal flight taking off to Vegas at 8:45 am, Kelowna airport is having a party that starts at 11:30 am.

The main floor of the terminal around the White Spot restaurant before security screening will be turned into a mini-Las Vegas for a celebration with a McLaren 720S Spider supercar, blackjack tables, showgirl and magician, acrobatic skits, neon lighting, Vegas signage and swag and prizing for passengers.

In all, Kelowna airport has 66 flights a day on nine airlines to 20 non-stop destinations, including Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Prince George, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal and seasonal, summer service to Kitchener, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg.