transportation options including shuttles, taxis and limousine services.


Improvements and expansion at Kelowna International Airport are contributing factors in attracting companies to the Okanagan. Beelineweb.com is one such business that specializes in the online generation of high-quality student enrolment leads for post-secondary institutions throughout North America.


“We attend a lot of industry specific conferences and visit many of our clients, so easy travel from Kelowna is very important to us,” says Ched Gagliardi of Beelineweb. “With direct flights to Seattle, Vancouver and Calgary, we have found getting anywhere in the U.S. or Canada is usually a short hop to one of these junctions and then direct to our destination. YLW has made our business readily available to attend these conferences or visit clients we would otherwise think twice about.”


Jason Richards heads Vineyard Networks, another network technology company in Kelowna with nearly all its business outside the Okanagan and Canada. “I believe that strong business relationships are built face-to-face. YLW is our gateway to building our relationships when we travel to the Silicon Valley in California or Europe or when our customers and technology partners travel here. We typically have 3-5 people visit us every month from around North America and the world.”


There is a significant increase in recent years of business commuters living in Kelowna or the Okanagan, yet working elsewhere in Canada. The lifestyle and amenities of the city and the valley are second to none and draw people here as the place they want as their home. Improved flight schedules and frequency of commercial flights are making it an affordable option for those with jobs or positions in other parts of Canada.


Wendy Stevenson, the accounting manager for the Lodging Company Reservations Ltd. and her family have always lived in the Okanagan, but her husband is employed in the oil patch in Fort McMurray, Alberta. “My husband flies back and forth between Kelowna and Fort McMurray every two weeks,”


The Shell Aero Centre handles all the needs and services from Gulfstream business jets down to single engine prop planes.


said Stevenson. “We love the Okanagan and wouldn’t live anywhere else. His flight options to get to work are improving so the commute will continue certainly for the immediate future.”


Commercial airline business travel has steadily increased through Kelowna in recent years, but so too has the use of private aircraft and charters or what’s known as General Aviation. In 2007,


2,956 people went through YLW using these methods of flying. In 2009 that had increased to 9,329.


The Shell Aero Centre, established seven years ago, handles all the needs and services from Gulfstream business jets down to single engine prop planes, while also handling all refuelling of commercial flights landing in Kelowna. It underwent a major expansion and renovation a year >


A Pilatus PC12


executive aircraft can accommodate six corporate clients.


The Okanagan


The Okanagan Vallley’s finestley’s finest…


Committed to giving the Finest Quality Service Only new vehicles at very competive rates


Call 250.717.LIMO(5466) for reservations • Toll Free 1.866.336.3133 • www.ok-limo.com FALL 2010 2010 | 9


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