Air Canada has announced it will be offering the first ever direct flight between Terrace and Calgary beginning June 1 next year.
The daily, year-round flight will depart Terrace at 9:25 a.m. while the incoming flight from Calgary will arrive at 9 a.m. with a flight time of one hour, 45 minutes.
The airplane being used is a Bombardier CRJ commuter jet with 50 seats.
“There are a fair number of people in Calgary that are from Terrace,” said airport manager Carmen Hendry, speaking to the reasons why the route was needed. “There is a fair bit of commuter travel back and forth from people who live here. And there's the mining industry that needs to go to Alberta into Calgary, and yes of course the [potential liquefied natural gas] projects.”
Hendry doesn't predict a significant increase in traffic at the airport because it is simply making the route more direct for people who would already be flying to Calgary through Vancouver.
Air Canada also announced nine other new routes, saying in a release that it “continues to strategically add new routes in response to the strong demand in Western Canada.”