MEDICINE HAT, AB – Integra Air is ending passenger service from the Medicine Hat Regional Airport.
The company in a phone call with CHAT News Today Thursday night confirmed it will no longer be offering flights from Medicine Hat to Edmonton.
The final flight is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Friday.
A return flight from Edmonton to Medicine Hat will depart from Edmonton International Airport at 5:30 p.m.
No more flights between the two cities are scheduled, according to Integra’s website.
“There’s lots of reasons,” said base manager Adam Kiess. “The largest one I would say being that there just wasn’t enough passengers on board.”
Kiess estimated that each flight held 2 or 3 passengers.
Mayor Ted Clugston told CHAT News he’s ‘massively disappointed’ upon hearing the news.
“It’s almost like one step forward, two steps back,” he said.
Integra Air began offering weekday direct flights from Medicine Hat to Edmonton in September 2016.
“We always said from the beginning, ‘use it or lose it’,” Clugston added, admitting he hadn’t used the service himself.
Perry Deering, president of the Medicine Hat and District Chamber of Commerce said he’s used the flight a few times.
“It was so personal,” he said. “We used the flight to go to a meeting and there’s no sitting at the back of the plane. You’re welcome to come up, you’re in a full conversation with the pilots and it was fun.”
Air Canada is presently the only airline offering daily flights from the Medicine Hat Regional Airport, until WestJet Link begins offering flights from Medicine Hat to Calgary in June.
