Okanagan fruit now plane-ready for YLW travellers

Kelowna International Airport has another to-go product to boast about — freshly grown Okanagan fruit.

On Wednesday, airport director Sam Samaddar unveiled their “Farm to Flight” program which will allow domestic travellers to take local fruit purchased passed airport security screening home with them.

Fruit will be available as the seasons dictate, starting with cherries this month and going on to peaches, apples and pears.

Fruit distributor De Simone Farms has partnered with the airport for the program. Local farms bring their product to De Simone, and as long as they meet all the regulatory requirements—which includes using certain fertilizers and following all national health and safety standards—the fruit is adjudicated and packaged for take-off.

Farmers from north to the south Okanagan are to supply their products, which Smaddar said they hope is carried around all Canadian airports.

“It’s about getting our brand out there, about the fruit products, and what the Okanagan’s all about,” he said.

He compared the latest launch to their promotion of the Okanagan wine industry.

“The wine store that you see in our departure room is all about that so this is the next parallel to growing that agricultural base and getting into food products,” Samaddar said.

YLW is the first airport to have a program to promote cases of homegrown fruit.

Farm to Flight was launched in the airport about a month ago to get everything running smoothly, and Samaddar said everything has been so far, so good.

“It’s been selling very, very well. People are buying it. In fact, we could’ve sold the boxes that we had here today; we had to keep our passengers away from them,” he said.

The rates the fruit is sold at is set by their concession. Currently, two pounds of cherries are being sold for $10, while an individual cup to take on your flight runs at about $3.50.

The fruit is specifically packaged so it isn’t bruised or damaged during flights.