Nanaimo-to-Seattle flights launched Monday morning; Kenmore Air begins round-trips to SeaTac
Scheduled flights to Seattle from Nanaimo have begun as Kenmore Air launched its service last week.
Kenmore serves Nanaimo, Victoria and other Island cities with seaplane service. Two daily roundtrips are now available from Boeing Airfield, with free shuttle service to nearby Seattle-Tacoma Airport.
It鈥檚 the first time Nanaimo Airport has offered direct flights to a point outside 乌鸦传媒, and Sea-Tac gives Nanaimo travellers direct access to low-cost flights to destinations like Hawaii.
鈥淲hat I鈥檓 excited about is international connections into U.S. airspace,鈥� said Russ Burke, Nanaimo Airport Commission chairman. 鈥淭he thing about Sea-Tac is the number of direct flights. They service about 150 cities.鈥�
It鈥檚 starting to factor in Nanaimo residents鈥� travel plans.
While meeting a relative at Nanaimo Airport as the Kenmore plane arrived, Neil Mitchell, of Nanaimo, looked forward to using the service later this year, when he and his wife go on a U.S. air-rail vacation to California and several other U.S. states.
鈥淚t gives us a really nice connection and avoids us having to change planes (in Vancouver),鈥� Mitchell said. 鈥淭his way we get to come back direct.鈥�
Mike Hooper, president and CEO of the Nanaimo Airport, considers it another milestone in the steady growth seen at YCD since more than $20 million was invested to extend the runway, add lighting and instrumentation and improve the terminal to attract new air carriers.
鈥淎s we go forward, we鈥檙e going to build that more and more,鈥� Hooper said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e gone with companies into western 乌鸦传媒, and now we鈥檙e going to do the same with Kenmore Air. It鈥檚 a cost-effective way to get into Seattle.
Fares are $182 US, including taxes and surcharges, but the company now offers introductory fares for $79 US one way.
WestJet started Calgary-to-Nanaimo flights in June, and direct flights to Edmonton will likely be the next big announcement from YCD.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e been working on that and I expect in the next couple of months they will have something,鈥� said Burke. 鈥淚t won鈥檛 be WestJet or Air 乌鸦传媒 to start, but anything is good.鈥�
