There will not be a direct Air Canada Rouge flight from Kamloops to Toronto this summer.

Airport Managing Director Ed Ratuski says the once a week flight is being pulled as the Boeing Max 8 and 9 aircraft remain grounded until at least mid-summer.

He says the cancellation was not unexpected.

“The MAX 8 issue has definitely impacted their ability to serve a number of markets,” he told NL News. “But on the other hand they are increasing their daily frequencies to Calgary during that period, which will really help the connections to mid-continent and further east to Canada for Kamloops travellers.”

Ratuski says the Airbus A319 aircraft that would have served the sector has been redirected to routes that would have been served by the MAX 8 aircraft.

“We will stay in close contact with Air Canada as the flight did perform well in 2019,” he added.

The direct Toronto flight began with service three times a week in the summer of 2018, but it was reduced to once a week in summer of 2019 due to the MAX aircraft groundings across the world.

He says anyone who booked a direct ticket to Toronto on the now suspended route will be contacted directly by Air Canada.

“They’ll be taken care of either way and be given the option to fly through Calgary or Vancouver or receive a full refund,” Ratuski said.

The cancellation came as Air Canada announced it was removing the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from service until June 30, with WestJet also announcing a similar suspension through to June 24.