Okanagan-Kootenay connection

There is improved access between Cranbrook and Kelowna, thanks to Pacific Coastal Airlines

by Marie Milner — November 26, 2013

(L-R) Kevin Boothroyd, director of sales and marketing, and Spencer Smith, vice-president of commercial services for Pacific Coastal Airlines. — Marie Milner photo.

Pacific Coastal Airlines’ inaugural non-stop Cranbrook-Kelowna flight—now offered daily—took place on Monday, November 18, 2013, and the company threw a celebratory get-together the next evening at the St. Eugene Mission Resort in Cranbrook.

Spencer Smith, vice president of commercial services for Pacific Coastal—he’s also the son of the airline’s founder, Daryl Smith—and Kevin Boothroyd, director of sales and marketing, welcomed Mayors Wayne Stetski of Cranbrook and Walter Gray of Kelowna, who said they are delighted with the new service. They applauded improved service on behalf of all users, but particularly for East Kootenay residents needing specialized health care, workers for FortisBC and BC Hydro, and students from College of the Rockies and UBC-Okanagan.

Also present and looking very pleased with this development were Tristen Chernove and Sam Samaddar, general managers of Canadian Rockies International Airport and Kelowna International Airport respectively.

On November 20, a number of groups met at Cranbrook City Hall to begin the process of achieving maximum benefits from the new service. Included were representatives from the cities of Cranbrook, Kimberley and Kelowna; College of the Rockies and UBC-Okanagan; chambers of commerce from Kimberley and Cranbrook; Kootenay Rockies Tourism, Tourism Kimberley, Thompson-Okanagan Tourism Association and Tourism Kelowna; Canadian Rockies International Airport, Kelowna International Airport and Pacific Coastal Airlines.

Kevin Weaver, economic and business development manager for the City of Cranbrook, said the day was very productive and that already, indications are that the new service has the rest of the province expressing a renewed interest in the opportunities available in the East Kootenay.