A 120-seat Air Canada Rouge Airbus 319 previously handled direct service between Nanaimo and Toronto (Submitted photo/Air Canada)

By Ian Holmes

service scuttled

‘We’re confident it will come back:’ Air Canada scraps direct flights between Nanaimo and Toronto

Jan 10, 2024 | 5:21 AM

NANAIMO — Non-stop seasonal Air Canada service linking the Harbour City and Toronto won’t be taking flight later this year.

In a brief statement to NanaimoNewsNOW, the airliner stated it is not planning to operate the Nanaimo to Toronto service this summer due to fleet availability.

“Air Canada remains committed to the Nanaimo market, and we hope to resume our seasonal non-stop flights in the future,” read the statement.

Air Canada debuted the 3,400 kilometere, four-and-a-half hour journey in 2018, which typically ran for at least three months during the height of the summer holiday season.

One weekly round trip between the two destinations was provided last year on Friday’s, carrying nearly 3,200 people in and out of Nanaimo according to Nanaimo Airport president and CEO Dave Devana.

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He noted as many as five weekly round-trips were made at one time between the two cities.

“It’s not as convenient for our customers, they don’t have a direct flight anymore in the summer to Toronto, but we do expect when the industry fully recovers here in Canada that Air Canada will come back and that flight will be re-started,” Devana said.

Citing continued regional population growth and a proven track record that direct flights between Nanaimo and Toronto are sustainable, Devana is convinced the service will return via Air Canada or another carrier.

“We’re confident that it will come back, it’s just a matter of time.”

Devana said Air Canada and other large carriers are focused on building up their hub airports in large Canadian cities following severe impacts to the industry caused by the pandemic and subsequent labour shortages.

“The airlines lost a lot of money during the pandemic, they’re pulling back and are focused on their key markets and their key markets are getting people to Vancouver to somewhere else.”

About 400,000 passengers flew in and out of Nanaimo Airport (YCD) last year, Devana said, down substantially from pre-pandemic levels of 491,000 in 2019.

He estimates YCD will experience a modest passenger growth rate of about five per cent this year.

Nanaimo Airport is a regional carrier, which includes non-stop service to Vancouver and Calgary.

This past September Pacific Coastal Airlines launched a pair of daily direct flights between Nanaimo Airport to both Kelowna and Vancouver’s south terminal.

Nanaimo Airport is regularly serviced by WestJet, Air Canada and Pacific Coastal Airlines.

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ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes