NewLeaf gives Kelowna the cut for the summer

Kelowna residents hoping to hop on a cheap flight to see family over the summer are out of luck.

NewLeaf released their summer 2017 flight schedule on Thursday and Kelowna International Airport is nowhere to be seen.

According to spokesperson Julie Rempel, the list issued isn’t necessarily set in stone.

"It’s our initial summer schedule, so the plan is to add more planes, offering more destinations, which hopefully would include Kelowna," she said.

For now, it is likely come as a huge disappointment to travellers who were looking forward to taking one of the budget flights.

When NewLeaf first got going in July 2016, the company had flights between 12 cities for as low as $89.

In the fall, they cut service to four cities for the winter including Regina, Sask., Saskatoon, Sask., Victoria and Kamloops.

Now, they will only be offering flights to and from Abbotsford, Edmonton, Alta., Winnipeg, Man., Hamilton, Ont. and Halifax, N.S.

Over the winter, NewLeaf flights from Kelowna have been direct to only Edmonton. Some flights between the two cities are priced at $39.

There is no word on whether NewLeaf will return to Kelowna, or any of the other cities they’ve cut service to, but the company says the move is part of a refocusing.

“Our customers have repeatedly asked for more opportunity to travel on the routes that we serve, so that’s precisely what this schedule provides,” said CEO Jim Young. “We have a highly concentrated route network that we are very pleased with.”

The schedule will offer fewer routes with a higher frequency. While most of their flights only ran twice a week before, some will now run nine times a week.