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Air Canada suspends early morning service from Grande Prairie to Calgary

Dec 23, 2021 | 10:09 AM

Travellers out of the Grande Prairie Airport now have one less option when it comes to catching an early morning flight out of the city.

Air Canada announced back in mid-November that it was suspending its early morning flight service from the Swan City to Calgary as of December 1, because of a decision to no longer offer a late-night flight from Calgary to Grande Prairie.

Grande Prairie Airport CEO Brian Grant feels crew hour availability is a big reason for the change.

“Everyone is trying to recover from the slow part of the pandemic. I think it is holiday season travel time, so there is demand for what limited flights the airlines can provide with the staff and equipment that they have operational and in the air right now.”

Grant adds they traditionally would get summer and winter schedules from both Air Canada and WestJet, but in recent months he says there have been changes on almost a weekly basis.

The move has brought frustration among some air travellers who wanted to use that early morning flight to connect to travel to other destinations.

Grant says it is important for people to give consideration to the connectivity of flights, especially if you are using multiple air carriers for your travels.

“There is no real connectivity within the system when it comes to changing from one airline to another for a connection mid-trip. It is important they understand that the second flight may not line up with the one that they originally started with if it gets cancelled.”

Grant is hopeful that Air Canada will return the early morning service by early March.