Air Canada set to suspend air service to Prince Rupert: report

Reports from National media indicated that
Air Canada has plans to suspend service to 
Prince Rupert before January 23

See update at bottom of page.

If you have an Air Canada credit from last year's cessation of air travel and you want to fly out of Prince Rupert, you may want to cash it in quickly. 

According to the Globe and Mail, the national airline has named Prince Rupert as one of a number of communities where air travel will be suspended later this month.

The Globe and Mail story which was released late this afternoon  notes that service to the Digby Island airport will be suspended by January 23rd.

Prince Rupert had a similar situation take place last year as the arrival of COVID hit domestic travel particularly hard, at that time Air Canada suspended flights to Prince Rupert in late March, service returned to the city in June.

Other than what is said to be a lack of demand, no other information was released today as to how the airline selected the communities where service will be suspended.

Besides Prince Rupert,  other communities identified by the Globe in their story this afternoon included Kamloops, Fredericton NB, Yellowknife NWT and Gander and Goose Bay in Labrador, all of which were put on the suspended flight itinerary as of today.

The route suspensions make for the latest of what have been a string of such decisions since early December.

Should Air Canada suspend its service to the city as has been reported, it will leave Terrace as the next available aviation option for local residents, coming during the heart of the winter months when road conditions can be ever changing and challenging.

The North Coast Review has put in a request for a local confirmation of the reports, and if confirmed by local officials, a view of the announcement and the impact it will have on operations at Prince Rupert Airport. 

Should we hear back we will update our notes on the local view of the suspension.

Update: on Wednesday, Air Canada issued an official statement on the fate of the soon to be suspended routes and the workforce reductions that will come from it, as well as to what passengers need to know about their options when it comes to their cancelled flights.

Wednesday afternoon, Rick Leach the Prince Rupert Airport Manager released the first official statement on the plans to suspend air service to Prince Rupert, we included it as part of our follow up article today.

For more notes on aviation in the Northwest see our archive page here.