Members of the Osoyoos Rotary Club heard about huge expansion plans at the Kelowna International Airport and the success of the Let’s Go Transportation ground shuttle service between Osoyoos and Kelowna airport since door-to-door service began several months ago. Attending the luncheon were (from left) Norm LeCavalier, co-chair of the Greater Westside Board of Trade, Birgit Santana, co-owner of Let’s Go Transportation, Osoyoos Rotary Club past president Cheryl King, Fabio Santana, co-owner of Let’s Go, and Sam Samaddar, general manager of Kelowna International Airport.
KEITH LACEY
Manager of Kelowna International Airport tells Rotary members about $55-million expansion plans
Business is so good at the Kelowna International Airport that a three-year, $55-million expansion will soon get underway and the shuttle service between Osoyoos and the airport is finally working well after a few bumps in the road after it was launched last summer.
Sam Samaddar, the longtime manager of Kelowna International Airport, and Birgit and Fabio Santana, the husband and wife proprietors of Let’s Go Transportation shuttle service, were the guest speakers at the Osoyoos Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon meeting last Thursday afternoon.
Since offering door-to-door service to customers in Osoyoos, business for the South Okanagan’s much vaunted shuttle service to the Kelowna International Airport has improved dramatically, said Fabio Santana.
Let’s Go Transportation announced last August that it would be offering daily service to customers throughout the South Okanagan from Osoyoos to Kelowna.
The problem was there were very few customers in Osoyoos and the business plan had to change, said Santana.
There would be several days each week where there wouldn’t be a single customer from Osoyoos using the shuttle service to get to the airport in Kelowna or any of the other communities on the route, including Oliver, Okanagan Falls, Penticton, Summerland, Peachland or West Kelowna, he said.
He and his wife decided early on their original plan wasn’t working and instead opted to offer door-to-door service to customers and business has taken off since, he said.
“Business in Osoyoos has improved 15 per cent with each passing month,” said Santana. “It’s growing every month … big time. You can book a shuttle any time you want.”
The original service was based entirely on departure and arrival times by the various major airlines at Kelowna International, but now the service is based on what the customer wants, he said.
“If you need to be picked up at 3 a.m. in Osoyoos, we will be there,” he said. “We had a lot of complaints about our hours … so we changed.”
Since offering door-to-door service, the rate structure for Let’s Go customers in Osoyoos has also changed.
The cost is based on how many passengers are picked up and dropped off at the airport in Kelowna. Prices range from $175 for one person, to $196 for two passengers, $217 for three passengers, $238 for four passengers and $65 apiece if there are five or more passengers.
There have been “very few customers” who use the shuttle service to travel between communities in the South Okanagan with almost all customers using Let’s Go to travel to the Kelowna airport, he said.
Let’s Go has been in operation in the North Okanagan since 2010 and customers in Osoyoos can travel directly from Osoyoos all the way to Salmon Arm, he said.
Let’s Go will be embarking on a large-scale marketing and promotion campaign across the South Okanagan using various forms of media starting March 1 and lasting several months, said Santana.
While wine tours still comprise a large amount of business for Let’s Go Transportation, the ground shuttle service is continuing to grow and he and his wife are very pleased with the progress being made since door-to-door service was offered, he said.
Samaddar, who has worked at Kelowna International Airport since 1992 and as general manager since 2008, said the facility is one of the fastest-growing airports in the entire country.
Projections to increase the number of passengers in Kelowna to 1.6 million by the end of 2016 have already been surpassed as of the end of 2014, said Samaddar.
The huge increase in traffic has resulted in management approving a plan to spend $55-million to expand facilities, including on-site parking, over the next three years, he said.
“We broke 1.6 million in 2014, which is two years ahead of our original forecasts,” he said. “We’ve had 75 per cent increase in traffic over the past 10 years and 5.5 per cent annual growth that we’ve been able to sustain. Those are phenomenal numbers.”
Those numbers are great news to business owners not only in and around Kelowna, but the entire Okanagan Valley, he said.
“Our airport is a huge economic driver for the region,” he said. “Some people look at it as Kelowna’s airport, but it’s the entire valley’s airport.”
Because of its relatively small size and subsequent lower landing fees, more and more major carriers want to use the Kelowna airport and that is a big reason for the rapid increase in business, he said.
“We are one of the lowest cost international airports in the country,” he said.
The biggest international market, surprisingly, has become Australia, said Samaddar.
“Come to our airport in January and you will see Aussies all over the place,” he said.
Airport administration is working hard to attract more European visitors than ever before and he’s confident that plan will be successful, he said.
The fact Let’s Go Transportation can now shuttle passengers from the airport to destinations across the Okanagan Valley will be crucial in the continued expansion of business at the airport, he said.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
