Travellers looking to access Calgary out of Northwest BC now have another option for the travel plans with West Jet announcing yesterday that they will be operating a twice a week service between the Terrace airport and Calgary.
The move brings back a route that was first put into service in 2015, the route was suspended in January of 2016 owing to the downturn of the Alberta economy.
WestJet which currently offers service to Vancouver out of Terrace, added the Alberta connection through its WestJet Encore service which uses the Bombardier Q400 aircraft, Encore is celebrating its fifth year of service as the WestJet regional aviation option.
The service to the Northwest will see the twin departures each week depart from Terrace at 6:30 AM, the first flight arrives in Terrace from Calgary on September 4th at 10:50 PM
The new service comes to Terrace as the economic picture continues to percolate in the Terrace-Kitimat region, with Brian Znotins, West Jet's Vice President of Network Planning noting that the service to the Terrace-Kitimat area will help to support those economic initiatives.
"WestJet is pleased to offer additional city-pair connections to and from Terrace with this new, twice-weekly service to the Skeena Valley," ... "Given the critical importance of transportation in creating and supporting economic development, this additional service will benefit the economy and the community as a whole."
Investments in mining, forestry smelting and the potential for LNG development all factored into the decision by WestJet to bring back the connection to Canada's Oil capital, for the twice a week flights.
Regional politicians in the Skeena Valley were quick to welcome the additional service out the Terrace airport, with both Terrace Mayor Carol Leclerc and Kitimat Mayor Phil Germuth making note of yesterday's announcement as positive sign.
"It's great to see WestJet once again opening up this valuable transportation route to Calgary and we are excited to see this development come so soon after the recent major renovations at our airport," -- Carol Leclerc, Mayor of Terrace
"This new flight route is a great addition for our region's connectivity," ... "As activity in Kitimat and the region continues to grow, we anticipate greater demands on flights in and out of the Northwest Regional Airport. WestJet has identified and seized an opportunity to better serve our communities, as well as developments proposed for the area, by adding this new route." -- Phil Germuth, Mayor of Kitimat
While WestJet continues to expand its presence in the Northwest, the airline remains loyal to only the Terrace airport, to this point, the Calgary based airline has not put Prince Rupert on its destination board.
You can learn more about the West Jet Encore service from the information release on yesterdays announcement.
For additional notes on aviation in the Northwest see our archive page here.
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