Non-stop flights to Vegas and Seattle start from Kelowna

Seattle and Las Vegas here we come.

Daily non-stop flights between Kelowna and Seattle started today with Alaska Airlines and tomorrow, twice-weekly, non-stop service Kelowna-Las Vegas begins with WestJet.

"We are delighted to have Alaska Airlines back at YLW, providing our passengers with more options to travel to the United States and beyond," said Kelowna International Airport CEO Sam Samaddar.

"Seattle is a popular destination for business and leisure travellers alike."

Since 1998, Alaska Airlines' Seattle flights had been a fixture at Kelowna airport.

However, mid-April 2023 the airline suspended flights because of low passenger counts.

It decided to come back for seasonal service mid-December to mid-April because the route is expected to be busier with skiers from Washington state looking to come to Okanagan resorts and Okanagan passengers using Seattle as a connection to points in the US, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Hawaii.

There's also expected to be some business and getaway traffic in and out of both Seattle and Kelowna.

Alaska Airlines is using new 76-seat Embraer175 jets on the route.

The plane leaves Seattle at 11:40 am and arrives in Kelowna at 12:54 pm before turning around and departing Kelowna at 1:49 pm to land in Seattle at 3:03 p,.

Alaska previously used a Q-400 turbo-prop plane with a similar seat count on the route.

Kelowna airport hopes the Seattle service is busy and Alaska decides to make the route year-round once again.

Viva Las Vegas

Samaddar will pop up again tomorrow at 11:30 am at the airport as it celebrates the Vegas flights launch.

The main floor of the terminal around the White Spot restaurant before security screening will be turned into a mini-Las Vegas for the party with a McLaren 720S Spider supercar, blackjack tables, showgirl and magician, acrobatic skits, neon lighting, Vegas signage and swag and prizing for passengers.

WestJet's director of Canadian airports, Riccardo Simonelli, will also be on hand for the festivities.

The Kelowna-Vegas flight actually takes off at 8:45 am tomorrow on the 174-seat Boeing 737-800 Max jet.

The flights are Fridays and Mondays, so Okanagan gamblers and entertainment seekers can time their trips to be a three-day weekend or Monday to Friday jaunt.

Kelowna last had non-stop flights to Vegas with WestJet's now-defunct discount carrier Swoop during the winter of 2019-20.

All the rest

Sunwing launched its return of weekly seasonal flights to Mazatlan at 10:45 this morning.

Tomorrow at 9 am, Sunwing will also start flying weekly to Cancun.

Other non-stop flights to sunspots began earlier this season with WestJet -- three times weekly to Cancun started Oct. 29, twice weekly to Puerto Vallarta launched Oct. 28, weekly to Cabo San Lucas began Nov. 4 and weekly to Phoenix took off Nov. 15.

In all, Kelowna airport has 66 flights a day on nine airlines to 20 non-stop destinations, including Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Prince George, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal.