New air service Friday Harbor to Victoria.

[soin2la]

Kenmore Air, twice daily round trips FRH to YYJ.

https://www.victoriaairport.com/news...nd-paine-field

[sunchaser]

Originally Posted by soin2la

Kenmore Air, twice daily round trips FRH to YYJ.

https://www.victoriaairport.com/news...nd-paine-field

Good news for sure. Thanks

[soin2la]

If you happen to look at the booking page, the details will show a three passenger Cessna 182, which is a tech error. The aircraft on that route is the 9 passenger Cessna Caravan.

[Crossroads]

This is especially welcome with the international ferry run suspended until 2030 at least.

Last year I grew tired of the ferry to anacortes---drive to Horseshoe Bay---ferry to Nanaimo trip.

All day trip just to get someplace that I can see from here (apologies to SaraP).

[twistedtree]

Interesting because I would t have guessed it would not be a popular route. Do people who live in Friday Harbor frequently visit Victoria, and vice versa? I would have guessed that Victorians would be more likely to head to the Gulf islands vs FH. And would think that Friday Harbor residents would be more focused on Seattle or other WA cities.

But apparently not?

[tiltrider1]

I wonder if it’s a by product of operations out of Paine Field. Like it’s easier/faster to clear customs in Friday Harbor allowing for direct flight to Paine instead of Seattle for Customs.

[twistedtree]

Originally Posted by tiltrider1

I wonder if it’s a by product of operations out of Paine Field. Like it’s easier/faster to clear customs in Friday Harbor allowing for direct flight to Paine instead of Seattle for Customs.

Yes, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s more logistic oriented. Unless people speak up that it’s a popular route?

[sjisailor]

I can't imagine a lot of demand from San Juan Island residents as such, but I can imagine substantial tourist interest. That is reflected in the roughly 5x volume (maybe even 10x) of Kenmore flights to the San Juans during summer tourist season.

And Sidney, where the Victoria airport is, is a nice destination in itself!

[tiltrider1]

Back in the 80’s. I was involved in a helicopter air lines. We were really a sight seeing charter business. However, I ran one flight a month as an airline to a foreign country. No one wanted to take this flight but it ran every month mostly empty. As you can imagine it was a money looser.

I know you are all asking why! Well, it made us an international air carrier. We actually had a two digit designation and we were entered into the SABER system that the travel agents all over the world used. They could book not only our international flight they could also book charter flights. We ended up getting 50% of our business through these foreign travel agents.

Moral of the story. It’s very possible that Kenmore is getting other benefits and is not concerned with how many actually take this flight.

[twistedtree]

Originally Posted by tiltrider1

Back in the 80’s. I was involved in a helicopter air lines. We were really a sight seeing charter business. However, I ran one flight a month as an airline to a foreign country. No one wanted to take this flight but it ran every month mostly empty. As you can imagine it was a money looser.

I know you are all asking why! Well, it made us an international air carrier. We actually had a two digit designation and we were entered into the SABER system that the travel agents all over the world used. They could book not only our international flight they could also book charter flights. We ended up getting 50% of our business through these foreign travel agents.

Moral of the story. It’s very possible that Kenmore is getting other benefits and is not concerned with how many actually take this flight.

And a GREAT reminder that when you hear about something and think "how stupid can those people be. Why don't they just apply some common sense", there is ALWAY much more to the story that you don't know, and it has likely received a lot of thought and consideration by people who know much more about the problem than you do......