Air travellers who got on board with WestJet last fall for 11 weeks of direct flights from Prince George to Las Vegas won't likely have that luxury this year.
The Calgary-based airline announced Friday there are no plans to bring back that direct service this year.
"As it comes to direct flights between Prince George and Las Vegas, we offered that service in a limited window between our summer and winter 2012 schedule as we had aircraft to support the launch of service," said WestJet spokesperson Jennifer Sanford.
"With the launch of new destinations and the continued growth of our domestic and transborder service, we do not have the same opportunities with additional aircraft this year. The flexibility of our fleet means that this could change and we encourage guests to visit westjet.com for the most up-to-date flight information."
The airline offered flights twice weekly to Las Vegas from Sept. 10 to Nov. 26. WestJet introduced the service with only a few weeks advance notice and it took time for passengers to buy into it.
"For competitive reasons, airlines do not reveal load factors for individual routes," said WestJet spokesperson Robert Palmer, in a Citizen story in late November. "However, what we can say is that the service got off to a slow start in September, but showed some improvements in October and November.
"Overall, the route did not perform as well as we had hoped, but that's the reason why it was established on a trial basis."
The Citizen was unable to reach anyone from the Prince George Airport Authority administrative office for comment.
WestJet will announce its winter schedule to and from Prince George in late July. In May, WestJet revealed plans to use Canadian-built Bombardier Q400 turboprop planes to launch a regional airline, starting in the second half of 2013, which will likely serve travellers at the Prince George YXS terminal. The regional fleet will include 45 planes WestJet plans to be purchased over six years in a $1.35-billion deal with Bombardier.
