Bigger Jets To Kelowna

Kelowna’s International Airport, the gateway to Big White Ski Resort and Silver Star Mountain Resort, will see the much anticipated addition of jet service on the Vancouver – Kelowna route.

As of December 17th, Air Canada will replace its Dash 8 service with an A320 jet on its 11:15 am departure from Vancouver to Kelowna. The A320 will hold up to 140 passengers with 20 executive class seats and 120 economy seats and provides all the comfort and speed of jet service. The Airbus will return from Kelowna at 12:50pm arriving back into Vancouver at 1:40pm each day in time to make easy connections to the South Pacific and eastern Canada, USA and UK destinations.

The A320 with its increased seating allows for easy connections from three non stop flights from Toronto to Vancouver and also works really well on the connections for passengers traveling from Sydney, Honolulu, Hong Kong, Tokyo, San Francisco, Portland, Victoria, and other domestic flights from within Canada. This new service has already been loaded in Air Canada's reservation system and is available for bookings now.

“This is fabulous news for all our customers and corporate clients visiting the Okanagan. Our resorts have experienced tremendous growth over the past few years with Big White now offering 15,000 on-mountain beds and Silver Star 3,500, allowing these guests a more convenient flight option has always been our push,” said Michael J. Ballingall, Senior Vice President, for Big White and Silver Star Ski Resorts. “We have been challenged with our increased popularity with getting our guests and luggage here together. Air Canada has heard our plea and answered the call and we couldn’t be happier and more appreciative,” continued Ballingall.

"Air Canada will start devoting more attention to regional Canadian aviation markets" said Chief Executive Officer, Robert Milton in Saturday's, September 25th Globe and Mail. "Among the cities that stand to benefit from the airline's regional push will be Kelowna, B.C. Air Canada's new parent company, ACE Aviation Holding Inc., will begin trading October 4th on the Toronto Stock Exchange."