Air Canada to bring Q400 service to Prince Rupert and 5% increase in available seats

Air Canada will offering an upgrade to its fleet
for service to and from Prince Rupert this summer

See Update at bottom of page 

Air travel in and out of Prince Rupert is about to get a little more comfortable and with a touch more in the way of available seats as Air Canada prepares to introduce its Q400 line of aircraft to the Prince Rupert to Vancouver run.

The Q400 is one of the flagship projects of Bombardier and has been part of the Air Canada fleet for a number of years, it's a next generation aircraft that offers a quieter ride and shorter transit than the current Dash 8 that makes the regular Prince Rupert-Vancouver trip.

You can learn more about the aircraft here.

The twice a day Air Canada Express service, operated by Jazz Aviation,  will mean a five percent increase in capacity with room for 78 passengers per flight to and from the Digby Island airport,

"Air Canada is strategically enhancing the flying experience and increasing capacity this summer on key regional routes in Western Canada. The ultra-quiet, comfortable, fuel efficient and faster Q-400 aircraft will be well-received by our customers and is larger than the regional aircraft it is replacing. We are pleased to deploy it to more communities in Western Canada as we further strengthen our regional network to optimize all significant connections between our extensive regional and global markets,"  -- Mark Galardo, Vice President, Network Planning at Air Canada.

The announcement was part of an expansion of Q400 service to a number of Canadian destinations as well as to Anchorage, Alaska, the service is to be introduced later this spring.

Also included as part of the new schedule will be Air Canada's service to Sandspit and Smithers, which will both see two flights a day making use of the aircraft.

You can review the Air Canada notes here.

What's not stated in the Air Canada information is the fate of the third flight that has normally been added to the flight listings each summer for Prince Rupert.

The current Dash 8 service has capacity of roughly 50 passengers per flight, which means the Q400 service will make for an increase of six seats to the community per day, but coming with what appears to be the loss of one flight option which had been a popular afternoon flight in the summer months.

That's a change in frequency which could give some North Coast residents cause to look to fly out of the Terrace airport which currently has a much wider selection of flights to Vancouver and other destinations.

The Airport shuttle interior
(photo from City of PR Facebook page)

The increase in capacity for the aircraft may also pose a logistical challenge for the city's ground transportation system, requiring a third bus perhaps to cover off the additional passenger loads that will come from the change to the two flights a day.

For more items of interest about the Prince Rupert airport and airport service across the Northwest see our archive page here.

Update: Those that travel much more frequently than we do, have been exploring the Air Canada Schedule for the Summer and the findings so far indicate that a Dash 8 service is currently scheduled to service the mid day flight to and from the city.

Which will be welcome news for residents and visitors alike should Air Canada hold to that timetable as we get closer to the summer months.

Our thanks to all those who forwarded us their flight plans over the last twenty four hours.

To view the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.