It's tough to keep track of WestJet's previously much-lauded, non-stop flights between Kelowna and Seattle.
In late 2024, the Calgary-based airline made a big deal of announcing it would begin year-round, daily service from the Okanagan's largest city to Washington state's biggest metropolis on Jan. 17, 2025.
The route launched as scheduled on Jan. 17.
But, in the meantime, a man called Donald Trump was elected president of the United States and took office Jan. 20.
A drop in flight bookings to US destinations in the wake of Trump's trade war with Canada and 51st state rhetoric prompted WestJet to hit the pause button on Kelowna-Seattle for the month of April.
The service ramped up again May 1, but by this week WestJet decided again to suspend flights, effective June 1, for at least the summer.
.jpg)
For now, WestJet is expected to bring back its Kelowna-Seattle flights in the fall.
However, that will depend on demand from Okanagan residents wanting to fly to Seattle and Washington state residents wanting to come to the Okanagan and where Canada-US relations stand at the time.
"Given the current conditions with tariffs and the Canadian sentiment for not travelling to the US right now WestJet has decided to pull the Kelowna-Seattle service for now," said Sam Samaddar, CEO of Kelowna International Airport.
"Seat sales were down, mostly because of Canadians not wanting to fly to or through Seattle. But American traffic to Kelowna was good."
.jpg)
Samaddar reiterated that WestJet hasn't given up on the route, but is taking a break for now because of current conditions.
In all, this week, WestJet announced it would be pausing nine routes to the US because of the drop in demand for Canadians to travel stateside.
Besides the Kelowna-Seattle suspension, there will be halts to Vancouver-Austin, Calgary-Fort Lauderdale, Edmonton-Chicago, St. John's-Orlando, Winnipeg-Orlando, Winnipeg-Las Vegas, Winnipeg-Los Angeles and Edmonton-Atlanta.
Samaddar pointed out that Alaska Airlines continues to fly between Kelowna and Seattle twice daily, year-round.
"That's quite positive," he said.
"A US connection is important for Kelowna. If people are flying to the US they prefer a non-stop service. So, it's good we still have Seattle in play."
Okanagan flyers may be going to Seattle for business or leisure or they may be using it as a connection point for another Alaska flight somewhere in the western US or with Alaska's partner American Airlines, which also flies farther afield from Seattle.
With Canadians not flying as much to the US right now, travel within Canada has picked up and will continue to escalate through the summer as we choose to vacation in our own country.
The number of domestic seats flying in and out of Kelowna airport is currently up 19% compared to last year and WestJet's summer capacity is up 20%.
Besides WestJet's year-round services from Kelowna to Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria and Toronto, the airline will launch seasonal summer flights from Kelowna to Winnipeg on May 16, Regina on June 29 and Saskatoon on June 30.
In the winter, WestJet is also a big player with non-stop flights from Kelowna to sun destinations Phoenix, Las Vegas, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos and Mazatlan.
.png)
Porter Airlines will make its Kelowna debut on May 14 when it starts to fly to Toronto five times a week.
The service will amp up to daily on June 23.
Porter will fly the new 132-seat Embraer E195-E2 jet on the route.
With Porter's arrival, Kelowna will have four flights a day to Toronto with Air Canada flying two of them and WestJet one.
In the first three months of this year, 592,085 people flew in and out of Kelowna airport, a 10% jump from January, February and March of 2024.
At this pace, Kelowna airport is on pace to set another passenger record in 2025.
In 2024, the airport saw a record 2,133,582 passengers fly in and out.
In total, Kelowna airport has about 60 daily, non-stop flights in and out to 21 destinations with eight airlines.
