The boycott American movement has seeped into Kelowna International Airport.
A drop off in demand for flights to the US has prompted WestJet to suspend its daily service between Kelowna and Seattle for the month of April and end the airline's seasonal Kelowna-Las Vegas flights three weeks early.
"We were notified last week this would be happening," said Phillip Elchitz, director of operations and innovation at Kelowna International Airport.
"What we know is demand for travel to the US has softened, not just from Kelowna, but right across Canada. As a result, airlines are reducing seat capacity to the US."
That can take the form of abandoning routes completely or reducing the frequency of flights and-or reducing the number of seats by using smaller planes.
Ever since President Donald Trump started slapping tariffs on Canadian goods and taunting us with his 51st-state rhetoric, some Canadians have boycotted American goods and refused to fly to the US for vacation or business.
Last year, WestJet made a big deal of announcing that it would start to fly daily, year-round between Kelowna and Seattle starting Jan. 17, 2025.
That service ended up lasting two-and-a-half months before being suspended at the end of March.
For now, the stop in service is only scheduled to be for a month.
As a result, WestJet is still accepting bookings for Kelowna-Seattle travel in May and beyond.
"We expect the flights to restart May 1," said Elchitz.
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By the way, daily Kelowna-Seattle flights on US-based Alaska Airlines continue.
"We're not aware of any planned changes for that service," said Elchitz.
WestJet's 2024-25 winter seasonal flights between Kelowna and Las Vegas began on Nov. 4 and were once-a-week on Sundays.
The stoppage after the March 30 flight means three Sundays will now be missed because the original end date was April 20.
WestJet's winter seasonal twice-a-week flights between Kelowna and Phoenix are unaffected and will continue to the end of April, as scheduled.
"Kelowna passengers still have multiple options for travel to the US by connecting through one of our hubs in Vancouver, Calgary and Seattle," said Elchitz.
Elchitz added that there is lots of good news at Kelowna airport.
In 2024, it set a record with 2,133,582 passengers flying in and out on 60 daily non-stop flights to 21 destinations with eight airlines.
That momentum is expected to continue this year.
March Break was busy with families flying to sun destinations for holidays and visiting friends and relatives.
Non-stops to four Mexican hotspots (Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos and Mazatlan) are wrapping up on schedule in a week and a half after a successful winter season.
And summer seat capacity to a myriad of domestic destinations from Kelowna is up 15%.
There are all the regular flights to Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Prince George, Victoria, Nanaimo, Comox, Toronto and Montreal.
Plus, Porter Airlines is starting its new service between Kelowna and Toronto on May 14 with five flights weekly, increasing to daily on June 23.
And WestJet will restart summer seasonal non-stops between Kelowna and Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg.
The flights from Kelowna to various hubs also gives travellers the option of connections to more than 200 additional destinations.
