Kelowna-Lake Country MP Tracy Gray has joined the chorus of voices demanding Kelowna airport get its international status back.
Flights from Kelowna to Seattle, Phoenix, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun, which have already been postponed from early-November to mid-December, hang in the balance.
"Despite being one of the top ten busiest airports by passenger volume in Canada, the government has refused to re-open the airport to international travel, which at the same time re-opening less-busy airports," said the local Conservative MP.
Gray has written a strongly worded letter to Liberal federal Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra as well as circulated the letter to the media so it can get public attention.
Today's letter is a follow up to a letter Gray sent in July asking the minister of transport what criteria was being used to determine which airports would be re-opening to international travel.
"I have heard nothing but silence from the minister or his department," said Gray.
"The people of Kelowna-Lake Country deserve to hear from this government what metrics are being used to keep Kelowna International Airport closed (to transborder flights) and what the timeline for re-opening is."
Kelowna airport director Sam Samaddar believes the local airport is doing everything it needs to do to reopen to international traffic, yet he can't get answers, either.
For instance, the airport has a lab fully accredited by Interior Health where outgoing and incoming passengers can get an antigen or PCR (polymerase chain reaction) COVID test.
Plus, it's ready to re-open its international arrivals area and custom-clearing operations.
All airports in Canada, except Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal, closed when the pandemic hit in March 2020 and international travel all but dried up.
Recently, with the majority of people vaccinated and COVID tests readily available, international travel is starting to open up again.
As a result the federal government has cleared six more airports for international flights -- Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Halifaz, Quebec City and Billy Bishop in downtown Toronto.
Alas, Kelowna isn't on the list.
WestJet has already rescheduled flights from Kelowna to Phoenix, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun, that were supposed to start in early November, to mid-December fearing international status won't be figured out soon.
Alaska Airlines waited until recently to announced it would resume flying Kelowna-Seattle in mid-December hoping the issue will be settled by then.
As such, Samaddar's timeline is to have international status back at the airport by mid-December, if not sooner.
Kelowna airport has built up its domestic activity nicely with non-stops to a bunch of destinations across Canada, including Vancouver, Victoria, Prince George, Fort St. John, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener and Montreal.
Passengers originating in Kelowna wanting to get to points abroad have to do so with a connection in one of the cities that has international status
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