North Coast Review
[This story originally appeared on The North Coast Review, a blog based in Prince Rupert that contains “items of interest to those living on the North Coast of BC.” Some minor updates have been made to reflect the current situation]
If you have an Air Canada credit from last year’s cessation of air travel and you want to fly out of Prince Rupert, you may want to cash it in quickly.
According to the Globe and Mail, the national airline has named Prince Rupert as one of a number of communities where air travel will be suspended later this month.
Air Canada on Wednesday announced that service to the Digby Island airport will be suspended effective Monday, January 18th.
Prince Rupert had a similar situation take place last year as the arrival of COVID hit domestic travel particularly hard. At that time Air Canada suspended flights to Prince Rupert in late March, service returned to the city in June.
Other than what is said to be a lack of demand, no other information was released today as to how the airline selected the communities where service will be suspended.
Besides Prince Rupert, other communities identified by the Globe in their story this afternoon included Kamloops, Fredericton NB, Yellowknife NWT and Gander and Goose Bay in Labrador, all of which were put on the suspended flight itinerary as of today.
The route suspensions make for the latest of what have been a string of such decisions since early December.
With Air Canada suspending its service to Prince Rupert, it will leave Terrace as the next available aviation option for local residents, coming during the heart of the winter months when road conditions can be ever changing and challenging.
