The Managing Director at Kamloops Airport says he is in constant contact with a number of airlines about potentially adding new flights to Kamloops.

Ed Ratuski says those discussions include telling airlines why they should pick Kamloops over other larger airports like Kelowna or Abbotsford.

“It’s numbers based with the carriers, they are definitely going to markets that can support their operations,” he said. “If we see routes that have potential, they’ll take a look and if it doesn’t meet their business model or the risk level they want to take, they might hold off for a bit.”

“That is kind of what we do every day when we’re researching and going after various routes out of Kamloops. It’s not basically another airport, its whether or not a specific route can be sustainably supported in the long term.”

Ratuski says if people use the existing direct flights out of Kamloops instead of driving to other airports, it will help make the argument to add more non-stop flights from Fulton Field.

“One thing we hear quite a bit is that ‘you have to drive to another airport to get on a sun destination flight’ but many Kamloopsians are taking advantage of the excellent deals right out of Kamloops,” he added.

“It think its more of a perception but the more people actually use those routes out of Kamloops the stronger is the argument for non-stop service right from Kamloops.”

While Ratuski’s comments come as Flair Airlines announced plans to cancel its direct flight to Edmonton in September, Pacific Coastal is set to launch a new seasonal flight to Victoria in October.

Edmonton was one of three key destinations being targeted for direct air service to Kamloops, with Victoria and Toronto the other two. Ratuski told Radio NL last month to not expect a direct flight to Toronto in the near future.

“We are in discussions with carriers to support that route but I think the industry is still in quite a bit of flux , and so to introduce that route into the market, I think would be quite challenging for the carriers that we are talking to,” he said.

Air Canada Rouge ran a direct Toronto to Kamloops flight in 2018 and 2019, but it was the victim of a pandemic-related cut.

Back in 2019, Swoop – WestJet’s soon to be defunct ultra low-cost carrier – also announced plans for a direct Kamloops to Edmonton flight which never took off due to COVID-19.

As it stands, Air Canada operates daily flights to Vancouver while WestJet flies daily to Calgary. Flair Airlines also operates its Edmonton service on Wednesday and Sunday mornings.