United Airlines launching Kelowna-San Francisco route this fall

Passengers traveling from Kelowna to Los Angeles will now have to look for other options for traveling between the two cities as United Airlines has decided to replace the route with a new one.

United Airlines recently announced that the direct flights it is currently operating between Los Angeles International Airport and Kelowna International Airport daily is being replaced. The airline has instead decided to offer direct flights between Kelowna and San Francisco International Airport beginning this fall.

The new flights on Kelowna-San Francisco route will be launched from September 20, 2014. United Express, a regional subsidiary of United Airlines, will continue to operate the daily nonstop flights on this route, as it has been doing so on Kelowna-Los Angeles route.
 
United Airlines said that even though the current Kelowna-Los Angeles flights is being replaced by new San Francisco flights, the airline will still continue to operate nonstop flights to Los Angeles from here intermittently. The flights will operate on Saturdays and Sundays every week from December 20 through January 4. The twice weekly service will later on continue to operate once every week on Saturdays only between January 31, 2015 and February 7, 2015. These flights are will provide service to skiers only. The airline said that the passengers will continue to be offered opportunity to book flights from Kelowna to Los Angeles via San Francisco until February 7, 2015.

United Airlines further said that the customers who have already booked their tickets for travel to Los Angeles from Kelowna after September 20, 2014 will be provided alternate travel arrangements.

The flight duration between San Francisco and Kelowna is around 2.5 hours. While providing flight schedule, United Airlines said that the daily flights will depart from Kelowna International Airport at 3.55 pm and arrive at San Francisco International Airport at 6.33 pm. The return flight will depart from San Francisco at 12.40 pm and arrive at Kelowna at 3.18 pm. The flights between the two cities will be operated by the airline’s regional subsidiary United Express, which will be using a 50-seater Skywest CRJ200 aircraft for the purpose.

Sam Samaddar, Director of Kelowna International Airport, said that the decision of United Airlines to provide flight services to San Francisco is quite sensible as the San Francisco International Airport is United Airlines’ main hub. The airline is the largest carrier at the airport, and is currently providing about 300 daily flights to above 90 destinations in the United States and around the world, more than what is being provided by other airlines.