Pacific Coastal is expanding its service to the Trail Airport with significant schedule improvements taking flight this spring.
The airline will run an evening trip to and from Vancouver Sunday through Friday and add an additional Saturday flight starting April 10, which coincides with the six-year anniversary of operation at the local facility.
“We have seen healthy growth in the region over the last couple of years and we just thought we wanted to be able to continue to give the market an opportunity to continue to grow so we wanted to give it some more capacity,” said Spencer Smith, vice president of commercial services. “We’re excited about it, it’s really going to be interesting to see how the region responds.”
The Richmond-based company opened its operation in Trail on April 10, 2006, offering a single flight from Vancouver seven days a week. Strong local support and growing passenger numbers led to the addition of a second weekday flight about six months later.
The new spring/summer schedule was designed to provide Greater Trail residents more travel options and greater convenience, especially with the addition of a second flight on Saturday and the latest departure time (just after 6 p.m.) from Trail offered by any airline in the region Sunday through Friday.
The intent is to maintain the extended schedule until Daylight Saving Time kicks in and the days get shorter and the airline can no longer operate that late due to dark conditions.
At which time, Pacific Coastal will revert back to two flights per day but use its 30-passenger aircraft for both flights rather than its 19-seater to meet anticipated demand.
“What it potentially can do is it can ultimately drive more passengers through the facility, which is ultimately good for the district and healthy for the airport so that they have maybe a stronger position going forward to invest in it,” said Smith, adding that existing staff will also benefit from expanded work hours.
Pacific Coastal provides regularly scheduled flights to more than sixty-five destinations in the province, as well as cargo, and charter services across western Canada.
This article has been revised with the following correction:
Thursday’s story, “Pacific Coastal Beefs Up Service To Trail, erroneously reported that a new additional flight will depart from the Trail Airport Sunday through Friday just after 8 p.m. In fact, the flight to the Vancouver Airport will leave at about 6 p.m.