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NewLeaf flights a big boost for YYJ

Victoria International Airport had another record month of travellers through its gates in May, but that might just be the tip of the iceberg with new service being added to the airport’s mix in July.
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Jim Young, president and CEO of NewLeaf Travel, speaks at a press conference at the James Armstrong Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg on Thursday. NewLeaf will resume sales with low fares and an expanded route map.

Victoria International Airport had another record month of travellers through its gates in May, but that might just be the tip of the iceberg with new service being added to the airport’s mix in July.

Discount airfare ticket seller NewLeaf Travel, which began selling tickets again on Thursday five months after it suspended operations and refunded fares as it awaited a federal regulatory ruling, will include Victoria in new service plans that will start at the end of next month.

The company says it plans on operating 60 flights a week, with the first flight scheduled for take off on July 25.

NewLeaf and its partner Flair Airlines say they will offer flights from Victoria to Kamloops, Edmonton and Winnipeg on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Victoria Airport Authority chief executive Geoff Dickson called the announcement great news for YYJ, noting the low-fare airline may be enough to convince some people to fly instead of drive or take other modes of transportation.

And it seems they are already doing so.

Victoria International Airport showed an 8.03 per cent increase in passenger numbers in May compared wth May 2015, and through the first five months of the year there has been a 4.7 per cent increase in passengers through its gates versus the same period a year ago.

Dickson said the higher May traffic was due to expanded service from Pacific Coastal Airlines, more service from WestJet’s Encore business and growth in traffic on Delta Airlines.

It all adds to the rosy tourism picture for the region so far this year.

Paul Nursey, chief executive at Tourism Victoria, said while much is made about B.C. Ferries traffic and tourists arriving through the Inner Harbour, the airport remains a “massive” asset.

“It’s really important to us. Scheduled air service is predictable and interconnects into much deeper global networks,” he said. “Generally these organizations like WestJet, Air Canada or Delta have powerful marketing networks behind them, which means pan-Canadian and international trade distribution.”

As for the addition of NewLeaf to the mix, Nursey said it is bound to help both in peak and off-season. “An increase in capacity is good. Low-cost carriers are attractive to key segments like millennials who often want to spend more on experience than they do on transportation, which is exciting,” he said. “And Winnipeg is a growing economy with over one million people. And in the off-season we get a lot of winter business.”

Since its original launch in January, NewLeaf now includes in its network Halifax, Moncton, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Kelowna, Kamloops, Fort St. John, Abbotsford and Victoria.

The company bills itself as an alternative to airline juggernauts like Air Canada and Westjet and offers “no frills” flights that start at $79 one-way, including all taxes and fees.

The NewLeaf tickets are discounted because its flights fly out of mostly smaller regional airports with lower landing fees and make customers pay fees for extras like carry-on and checked baggage, priority boarding and call centre assistance.

Kelowna based Flair Airlines, which owns and operates a fleet of Boeing 737-400 jets, provides the pilots and crew members.

NewLeaf had to stop ticket sales after a week when it hit some turbulence over whether it needed a licence to operate. The company contended it did not require a licence because it does not operate airplanes and only resells seats from Kelowna-based Flair Airlines. In late March, the Canadian Transportation Agency ruled in favour of NewLeaf and cleared the way for the company to resume ticket sales.

— Files from The Canadian Press