Airport Services: Air Service Development
| BY TRACEY FREDRICKSON
A
s a major airport, people often ask why Kelowna International doesn’t have direct service to
their favorite destination.
The answer relates to three basic initiatives in air service development. The first is to maintain and retain the air service you enjoy today; the second is to grow existing markets with greater frequency and larger planes, and the third component is to develop new markets that are currently not served by nonstop flights. Research is constantly being conducted to determine consumer travel patterns which help the airport and airlines understand where the demands are and what markets to serve next.
Last year most Canadian airports saw a reduction in air service as a consequence of the recession with an average decrease across the country of over 5.5 percent in passenger traffic volume. Kelowna International not only bucked the trend with a decrease of just 1.6 percent, it was one of only four Canadian airports that did not see any loss of Air Canada flights.
In 2009, WestJet added more flights between Kelowna and Calgary plus Edmonton over the summer months and these flights are in the 2010 schedule once again. Beginning in the fall of 2009, WestJet added scheduled seasonal service to three popular Mexican destinations: Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun. Air Canada recognized the increased demands over the winter months for connections to and from their Vancouver hub, especially from Australia and Asia, and introduced larger gauge E190 and A319 aircraft from November 1 to April 30 to meet this demand.
An important factor in expanding air service is working with local airlines and their alliance partners to ensure tariffs and fares position Kelowna International favorably in the airline reservation systems. An efficient interline tariff fare system gives travellers access to a greater choice of flights, competitive fares and efficient connections through local carriers to and from literally thousands of points in the world. For example, if you are located in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa >
SUMMER 2010 | 5
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