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Pacific Coastal to launch new Kamloops to Victoria flight in October

Victor Kaisar
Jul 17, 2023 | 9:53 AM


Pacific Coastal to launch new Kamloops to Victoria flight in October

A Pacific Coastal Beechcraft 1900D aircraft. (Photo via Pacific Coastal Airlines)

Kamloops is getting a new direct flight to Victoria, starting Oct. 17.

Pacific Coastal Airlines will connect the Tournament Capital to the Provincial Capital six days a week, from Sunday to Friday, until April 26, 2024.

The Vancouver-based airline will use a 19-seater Beechcraft 1900 aircraft for the roughly hour-long flight between Victoria International Airport (YYJ) and Kamloops Airport (YKA).

“Kamloops will become Pacific Coastal Airlines fourth destination served with non-stop flights from Victoria in addition to our Vancouver, Kelowna and Prince George flights, “Pacific Coastal’s VP of Customer & Commercial, Johnathan Richardson, said, in a statement.

“Although our initial service to Kamloops is planned as a seasonal winter route, we will be monitoring the route’s performance and will extend to year-round service if demand warrants.”

One-way fares for the Kamloops to Victoria flight are listed at $189 on the Pacific Coastal website, though passengers are being offered an introductory 20 per cent discount if they use the promo code VC2KL.

“Given winter driving conditions on the Coquihalla and then continuing challenges with the ferry service, so we’re thinking this is going to be a successful route for Pacific Coastal.” YKA Managing Director, Ed Ratuski, told Radio NL, adding he is confident the flight will end up operating around the year.

“I don’t know if anybody [has flown Kamloops to Victoria directly] it in the past. There might have been one or two attempts years ago but this is definitely a route that the numbers are showing that it should be quite successful for Pacific Coastal,” Ratuski said.

“We have had this route on our radar for quite a long time, so its good news coming into the fall market for us.  Our intent is to promote this flight to make it sustainable and a year round service.”

In a statement, Kamloops Councillor Bill Sarai, who is President of the Kamloops Airport Authority Society, too said he is “beyond pleased” to see another new flight at YKA.

“This is such an important route to our Province’s capital for both pleasure and business and we look forward to working with Pacific Coastal on identifying more routes to serve our region,” Sarai, who previously urged Kamloopsians to support Flair’s new flight to Edmonton, said.

“What we do with [Flair], the other airlines are going to look at it and say, ‘hey, Kamloops is stepping up and they’re capable of filling some planes up, let’s look at other destinations,'” Sarai told Radio NL.

“And that is what I’m trying to promote.”

The new Victoria flight comes about a month after Flair Airlines began operating twice-weekly flights to Edmonton on June 18. Edmonton and Victoria were two of three key destinations being targeted for direct air service to Kamloops, with Toronto being the other one.

Pacific Coastal previously operated a direct flight between Vancouver International Airport’s South Terminal and Kamloops in 2021. The limited-time flight, which ran until spring 2022, was meant to temporarily replace a gap in service when Air Canada suspended its Kamloops flights, citing COVID-19.