Watch above: United Airlines announced it’s taking off from Saskatoon in a month leaving business travelers and owners wondering why. Joel Senick tells us the departure has resulted in a new union that will try to fill the void.
SASKATOON – United Airlines is taking off from our city in a month leaving business travelers and owners wondering why. Saskatoon is a strong destination for an airline to offer its services, despite recently losing a major carrier, according to a number of business insiders in the city.
On Tuesday, United announced it planned to withdraw its daily service from both the Saskatoon and Regina international airports, citing a number of contributing factors in their decision. The plan will go into effect on March 1, 2015.
READ MORE: United Airlines ending daily flights between Denver and Saskatoon
“Disappointing, in a word,” said Stephen Maybury, CEO of the Saskatoon Airport Authority, when asked how he felt once he learned of the airline’s decision.
“You look at our economy, strong and diverse, our passenger growth … we’re up 6.7 per cent over last year, so the demands there, the economy’s there.”
Watch below: Barb Crowe from Ixtapa Travel discusses the effect of United Airlines leaving the Saskatoon market
The airport authority said United planned to cancel their service due to fleet replacement issues, the lower Canadian dollar, competitive pricing and a robust American economy. However, Willoughby said he believes the company simply made an error in judgment.
“To me, I think it comes down to United’s perception of the Saskatchewan market,” said Willoughby.
“I think its United’s perception that the Saskatchewan market isn’t really giving them what they want in terms of the number of passengers, in terms of total volume they’re looking for,” he added.
United wanted to “best deploy their equipment to maximize their revenue” according to Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kent Smith-Windsor. However, he too believes that the city would well serve a major airline.
“Our volume of U.S., Canada traffic remains sound, continues to show growth,” said Smith-Windsor.
“The prospects of positioning ourselves as an attractive place, either now or in the future for an existing carrier to expand their service or an alternate carrier to consider Saskatoon, our case is pretty strong.”
The Regina and Saskatoon airport authorities have teamed up in an attempt to attract another major airline to the two prairie cities.
“It’s not that we believe that the opportunity is still not here, the load is here, the demand is here, for a good connection through a reliable hub,” said Maybury.
A United Airlines spokesperson told Global News that passengers who purchased a flight past March 1 will be contacted and either offered an alternate travel plan or a refund.
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