Air Canada has announced the deployment of more Bombardier Q-400 Next Gen aircraft for the Penticton-Vancouver route, along with a change in scheduling. (Air Canada)

By Vanessa Broadbent

Osoyoos Times

Local flyers using Air Canada to commute between Penticton and Vancouver may have a harder time doing so with changes to the airline’s service starting in May.

Air Canada announced that the deployment of more Bombardier Q-400 Next Gen aircraft for the Penticton-Vancouver route comes with a change in scheduling as well.

The late-night flight, which lands in Penticton around 11 p.m., as well as the flight leaving Penticton at 6 a.m., will no long longer be offered.

Three other three flights remain and with a larger fleet of planes, Air Canada said 234 seats – a 17 per cent increase – will be available on a daily basis.

However, starting May 1 the first flight to Vancouver leaves Penticton at 9:35 a.m. and the latest back leaves Vancouver at 6 p.m., and the change could have a negative affect on local tourism, according to Destination Osoyoos executive director Kelley Glazer.

“From a tourism perspective, any time you limit choices you limit opportunity,” she said.

“We want to give people as many choices as we can.”

Osoyoos has many residents that only live in town in the summer, Glazer noted, and rely on the flight to commute to the Lower Mainland for work.

“Those choices are limiting for them because they could be commuting to work in Lower Mainland or bringing family members.”

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South Okanagan – West Kootenay MP Richard Cannings also criticized the change and shared concern that it will decrease traffic to and from Penticton.

“These flights are always full and are essential to many travellers, including business people travelling to Vancouver for meetings and vacation travellers connecting to flights in Vancouver,” he said in a media release.

Cannings believes the change will force people to use the Kelowna airport instead, and thinks Air Canada should reconsider the change.

“I have expressed by concerns to Air Canada and hope that they will reverse this decision,” he said.

Osoyoos mayor Sue McKortoff disagrees and pointed out the new aircraft is more reliable.

“While the early morning and late evening flights are very well used, I think having the larger Q-400 aircrafts is a positive move as they will be able to land in poor weather better than the Dash 8s, which will mean less flight cancellations,” she said.

The issue is complicated though, she added, and Air Canada should be open to compromise.

“Rescheduling flights affects all the other feeder flights and small airports in B.C. as well.”

However, the remaining flights connect at the Vancouver airport to top destinations that residents from the Penticton area travel to, Air Canada media spokesperson Angela Mah told the Osoyoos Times.

Also, point-to-point same-day travel represents a small percentage of travellers on the Penticton to Vancouver route, Mah said.

“While the new schedule makes it possible to spend a good portion of the day in Vancouver and a full day in Penticton, we are also aware of community concerns over the timing of the first flight departure and the last flight arrival and we’re in contact with Penticton community stakeholders to discuss this,” she said.

“While we’re not able to confirm any changes to the schedule, we are committed to working together with the community leaders to evaluate the feasibility of any adjustments.”

The regional district and City of Penticton are asking for the public’s opinion with a survey, and are inviting Osoyoos residents to participate.

Many South Okanagan residents choose to live in the area because of the ease of travel to Vancouver and Calgary, City of Penticton director of Development Services Anthony Haddad said in a news release.

The survey aims to learn how the changes to the Vancouver flight schedule affect local travellers and identify gaps in service.

“We encourage anyone who travels through the Penticton airport to complete the survey and hope to hear from as many people as possible,” Haddad said.

The Penticton Airport Flight Service Survey is open until April 6 at shapeyourcitypenticton.ca.