Showing the love for a direct flight to Edmonton

Our customers are showing the love and it’s a match made in (almost) heaven.

For the past month, Central Island residents have been demonstrating sky-high levels of passion for travel to Edmonton, in Nanaimo Airport’s “Show Your Love” campaign. Residents have been going online to share their strong connection and commitment to the Alberta city, in hopes of restarting direct flights between Nanaimo and Edmonton in the future.

An economic downturn led WestJet to the difficult decision to redeploy its fleet and suspend its services from several airports to Edmonton as of March 5.

Airport CEO Mike Hooper says “Show Your Love demonstrates to air carriers that they’ll have strong community support to re-launch the route once the Alberta economy picks up.”

And from the response to the campaign so far, they can also count on many passengers.

Residents most often cite family and work connections as the reason for their desire to have a direct flight again between the two cities.

“We still have a lot of family and friends there,” says one resident, who grew up in Edmonton and plans to make several trips back to his former hometown.

Another resident says her sister, brother and families live in Edmonton, and having a direct flight there “would make it easier to keep our family connected.”

Yet another resident wants to be able to see her grandchildren in Edmonton. “What greater way to connect than flying directly back and forth without having to go through (Vancouver)?”

There’s still time for Central Islanders to “Show Your Love,” to demonstrate that a Nanaimo-to-Edmonton should be one of the first routes to be considered for reinstatement. Just go to showyourlove.nanaimoairport.com and:

• Share a personal story about why travel to Edmonton is important to you
• Copy the “Show Your Love” icon and use it on your social media while sharing your connection to Edmonton with your friends.