Its been a long haul for the Regina International Airport. Eight long years of not being able to offer flights from Regina to major US hub.
During that time, if you wanted to get to the US by air from Regina, you would have to first fly to another Canadian city like Edmonton, Vancouver or Toronto. And of course, the reverse it true. People in the US wanting to do business in Regina, have to take a roundabout route to get to the Queen City.
A few months ago WestJet announced it was going to start daily non-stop service to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Yesterday, the first flight took off
“WestJet is pleased to connect Regina and Minneapolis with new year-round daily service, unlocking key tourism and economic development opportunities for the City of Regina and the surrounding area,” said Andrew Gibbons, Vice President, External Affairs at WestJet. “In line with the WestJet Group strategy which focuses on winning in the West, we are proud to be the only carrier offering daily transborder connectivity from Regina International Airport this summer.”
“After 8 years, we are thrilled to once again return daily, non-stop service to a major US hub for all of southern Saskatchewan”, said James Bogusz, President & CEO of the Regina Airport Authority, “We are thankful for the massive support we received from the Province of Saskatchewan, a variety of partners in the community, and, most importantly, WestJet for making this a reality.”
The daily flight leaves Regina at 8:15am and arrives at Minneapolis-St Paul Airport at 11:30am local time. The flight to Regina from Minneapolis takes off at 1:15pm, arriving in Regina at 2:28 local time.
This new service will make it easier to connect to other destinations in the US, not only through WestJet and their code share partnership with Delta Airlines, but with the other major airlines that service Minneapolis.