International flights cleared for landing at YLW

• Community engagement helped the decision
• More flights expected soon

After month's of frustration by the tourism, business and political community, the Kelowna International Airport will regain its international status for flights to and from Kelowna, effective Nov. 30.

“It’s great news for our community,” Airport Director Sam Samaddar said.

“We had tremendous support from our community, and we look down the line from city council to our mayor, to MP Tracy Gray and others.”

Samaddar said the many letters of support helped push the federal government on the decision.

“It certainly resonated in Ottawa in terms of the support the community was providing us,” he said. “We looked at our chambers in Kelowna and Vernon and beyond, everybody was there supporting us and it definitely sped up the decision.”

In a news release, Mayor Colin Basran expressed his excitement for the return of international flights.

“We couldn’t have done this without support from our local politicians, neighbouring municipalities, key local businesses and community members,” he said. “Our entire community will benefit from the economic impacts of the return of international flights.”

Initially, international flights scheduled to arrive in December were cancelled because of the delay, but the airport is working with the airlines to get some back in the short term.

The airport is anticipating it first international flight since March 2020 to take off on Dec. 16, with Alaska Airlines flying out of Kelowna to Seattle. Samaddar said they’re looking to forward to bringing more flights back.

“Our airline partners certainly know the importance of connecting into Kelowna when we look at the international market,” he said. “We know Canadians like to go to sun destinations and we’d like to see that coming and opening up by January and if we can get it done sooner then we’d like to see that happen.”

As of right now, Sunwing Airlines and WestJet have flights to places like Varadero, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun scheduled for January.

During COVID-19, YLW has been one of Canada’s fastest recovering airports, nearing 850,000 passengers by years-end, and offering more that 60 daily non-stop commercial flights with seven airlines.

As of Oct. 30, all passengers 12 and older are required to be fully vaccinated to board domestic or international flights.

More information can be found on the airport’s website.