Okanagan ski resort operators are excited that new direct flights between Kelowna and Los Angeles will boost access to the region and reduce fares, making their resorts more competitive and attractive for American skiers this winter.
In July, United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE:UAL) and WestJet Airlines Ltd. (TSX:WJA) announced direct Kelowna-to-Los Angeles flights. Previously, Kelowna residents had no direct route to California.
Starting December 20, United plans to fly a 66-person daily flight out of Kelowna to Los Angeles. WestJet plans to fly a Boeing 737, with capacity for 136, between Kelowna and Los Angeles every Saturday during the ski season, between early November and late April. (See flight schedule table for times.)
"We're excited about both the United and WestJet flights," said Michael Ballingall, senior vice-president at Big White Ski Resort and at Silver Star resort.
"The brilliant news is that it forces Alaska Airlines to look at their model because they don't have the market to themselves any more," said Ballingall.
Alaska Airlines, which has yet to announce its winter fares, flies three times daily between Kelowna and Los Angeles with a stopover in Seattle.
The other option was to fly Kelowna to Los Angeles on various airlines via Vancouver.
Ballingall believes that increased competition and seat supply will push prices down and make Kelowna an even more attractive destination for skiers in the U.S. southwest.
"Big White will be the closest Canadian ski resort to Los Angeles as well as one of the closest ski resorts to Los Angeles in North America," he said.
That is based on a four-hour, 15-minute travel time between Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Big White Ski Resort:
•three and one-quarter hours on the plane;
•a 15-minute walk through customs at the small airport; and
•a 45-minute drive to the resort.
In contrast, flights between Vancouver and Los Angeles take about three hours, involve a busier customs room and then require a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to the nearest destination ski resort, Whistler Blackcomb.
United's flights between Kelowna and Los Angeles are timed to connect with flights to the U.S. southwest, Mexico and Latin America, meaning shorter travel times between Kelowna and much of the rest of the Americas.
Obtaining the flights took more than four years of negotiations.
Ballingall, together with Tourism Kelowna and other resort operators, originally lobbied for a direct flight to San Francisco because they thought getting gate space at LAX would be impossible.
United bought Continental Airlines in a US$3.17 billion all-stock deal in 2010, creating the world's largest air carrier. Management shakeups followed, forcing Ballingall's team to restart lobby efforts and convince a new set of executives on the idea of flying to Kelowna.
Those new executives eventually calculated passenger projections for San Francisco and Los Angeles and determined that the flights to Los Angeles would make money from day 1, Ballingall said.
"The decision and the timing was based around business, not tourism," he said.
Some of Kelowna's largest employers will also benefit.
The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) in 2007 paid $350 million to buy virtual reality game Club Penguin from founders Lance Priebe, Lane Merrifield and David Krysko as well as some angel investors. It would have paid an additional $350 million had the site not failed to meet profit targets.
Now known as Disney Online Studios Canada, the interactive game for kids employs hundreds of people in Kelowna and will be able to make use of the new flights to Los Angeles for day-long business trips, said Disney Interactive director of communications Brian Nelson. •
