Call it what you like -- a significant adjustment, a major network shake-up, or where best to place assets.
Whatever the reason, Kelowna is caught up in WestJet's rash of summer route suspensions.
For Kelowna that means WestJet will drop flights between Kelowna and Toronto and flights between Kelowna and Seattle from its summer schedule.
The daily Kelowna-Toronto non-stops will cease on April 24 and resume Oct. 26.
The Kelowna-Seattle daily service will take a break April 25 to Oct. 25.
Kelowna wasn't specifically targeted in this schedule overhaul.
In all, WestJet is suspending up to 16 routes for the summer -- the period generally defined as late April to late October.
The airline is mostly responding to reduced demand for flights to destinations in the US in this era of elbows-up.
For instance, gone for the summer will also be Vancouver-Boston, Vancouver-Nashville, Vancouver-San Francisco, Vancouver-Tampa, Vancouver-San Diego, Calgary-Raleigh/Durham, Edmonton-Atlanta, Edmonton-Nashville, Edmonton-San Francisco, Edmonton-Seattle, Edmonton-Orlando, Toronto-Los Angeles, Winnipeg-Nashville, Winnipeg-Atlanta and Halifax-Orlando.
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WestJet does well with flights between Kelowna and Seattle in the winter with Americans coming to the Okanagan to ski and Okanagan residents going to Seattle for Seahawks football games, a big-city break or catching a connection to Hawaii or other points south.
In the summer, that demand is expected to wane, so WestJet will take a six month break from the route.
Kelowna still has a direct link to Seattle with year-round daily non-stops on Alaska Airlines.
Alaska bumps the frequency to twice daily during that aforementioned busy winter season in February and March.
WestJet has had a year-round daily non-stop to Toronto for years, most recently a red-eye that leaves Kelowna at 11:40 pm and arrives in Toronto at 6:58 am local time.
The overnight timing may have curbed demand for that flight as well as competition on the route.
Air Canada flies twice daily year-round between Kelowna and Toronto -- one of them is a red-eye Kelowna-Toronto and another at noon.
Porter Airlines also flies year-round Kelowna-Toronto with a daily flight that leaves Kelowna at noon, as well.
WestJet is by no means abandoning Kelowna.
In fact, it remains the airline that flies the most in and out of Kelowna.
It has 11 non-stops daily between Kelowna and its Calgary hub that offer connections galore to an array of domestic, US and overseas destinations.
WestJet also has year-round non-stops from Kelowna to Victoria and Edmonton, summer seasonal service from Kelowna to Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg and winter seasonal service to Phoenix, Los Cabos, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan.
WestJet originally announced it would fly Kelowna-Las Vegas this winter, but later pulled it from the schedule.
With airplanes freed up from flying routes to the US this summer, WestJet is increasing frequency on some domestic routes, is introducing new summer service between Penticton and Vancouver; Calgary and Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Campbell River; and Edmonton and Terrace.
WestJet is also starting a bunch of new international routes this summer, including Toronto to Medellin, Cardiff, Glasgow and Ponta Delgada; Halifax to Madrid, Lisbon and Copenhagen; and Edmonton and Winnipeg to Iceland.
