Hawkair shutting down

as of December Hawkair is closing up shop in Prince Rupert, no new bookings will be allowed

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Wow, that’s too bad.

I wonder if all the competition in Terrace is behind this move? Westjet, Air Canada, CMA, and Hawkair all fly out of Terrace, right?

It is leaving for everything you mention, plus each fare Hawk (as does Jazz) has to collect $54 in Airport User fees each way this is ferry and airport usage fees apart from gst/ fed fees, so they asked the city for a break in the slower months of the year and no word was heard back so all staff got lay off notice November 20th but no official word yet. They are just operating 4 flights over december / jan holiday period … and than nothing as of Jan 4th

Bummer. More good people losing jobs.

Is there a link to this announcement?

I saw it on twitter earlier:

https://twitter.com/HawkairAirline/status/669620065554202624

and

https://twitter.com/HawkairAirline/status/669619618554626050

So they’re not saying it’s permanent. Just a normal part of the winter season.

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Jabber63,

Many thanks for the heads-up this morning! I was booked on a Hawk Air flight to Vancouver on Dec.26th. I managed to get a flight on that date with Air Canada. Hawk Air was very friendly to deal with and promptly gave me a full refund this AM.

https://hawkair.ca/2015/11/hawkair-to-operate-terrace-prince-george-kelowna-flights/

Hawkair announces a schedule change effective December 1, 2015 that will see the airline operating daily flights between Kelowna, Prince George and Terrace by reducing capacity on the Prince Rupert and Terrace to Vancouver routes.

The new flights will be operated by Hawkair aircraft and flight crew with Central Mountain Air as the marketing carrier. “With the seasonal slowdown in Prince Rupert we’re moving our aircraft to perform higher demand travel between Terrace, Prince George and Kelowna,” stated Jocelyn Lebell, Hawkair Director of Corporate Services. “By adjusting our route schedule and partnering with CMA we are able to double capacity to these markets.”

During the Christmas holiday period Hawkair will be operating select flights in Prince Rupert. While the airline usually reduces capacity into Prince Rupert in the wintertime, the decision was made this year to remove it entirely for the winter season with the expectation of service resumption in the much stronger spring and summer months. They will also be reducing a portion of capacity from the Terrace-Vancouver route.

http://cfnrfm.ca/hawkair-no-longer-flying-to-prince-rupert-as-of-december/

Hawkair is dropping its Prince Rupert route as of December 1.
Jay Dilley is president of Hawkair, and he says the regional airline is shifting resources to a new route out of Kelowna instead.

He says the new route is there for the long haul.

Dilley is hopeful flights to Prince Rupert will resume in the spring or summer on seasonal basis.
He adds they’re always looking at project developments in the area, and says depending on demand, the route may be reinstated.
Hawkair will be contacting and making arrangements for passengers who have booked flights to or from Prince Rupert.

Follow the link for the audio of the report.

So when the going gets tough, Hawkair is bailing to Kelowna…only to return when things get a bit busier in the Spring and Summer?

I will never fly Hawkair again, I will not support them further, not here or in Terrace.

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I’m guessing that pigs must be flying as I agree with you on something, bthedog. I don’t like the fact that I first heard about this closure on the internet. Hawk Air could have contacted me earlier to enable me to get seats on another flight. Luckily I was able to get seats in time. Hopefully other passengers were able to get seats. My feelings may change over time, but, for now I’m sticking with Air Canada.

when Petronas starts to build on lelu maybe Westjet might come here, and if they do even if Hawkair comes back ppl will remember them pulling out and they won’t have any loyalty factor

That saddens me to hear you say that. Considering that HawkAir offers superior service. My wife and i fly to Vancouver many times each year and we frown when they cant offer us a HawkAir flight and we have to fly Air Canada or as we like to call it the “pretzel express”. HawkAirs flight attendants are nicer and they have better in flight meal options. Its the kind of service you get from smaller airlines where they actually care about their passengers. And as such any small company like HawkAir when they struggle I would rather them cut back a bit then close all together.

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I disagree. I’m saddened that good people are losing their jobs. However, if they really cared about their customers they would have honoured our tickets or they would have ensured that we were taken care of properly and not left to scramble to find seats.
If they ever come back I would wonder if they would do the same thing again.

There’s a difference between struggling financially and expanding. Hawk Air is pulling service from Prince Rupert for the winter months and expanding its services to other regions. And how they handled this is very poor business etiquette. This just leaves the Prince Rupert area with limited options. Yes we can travel to Terrace for flights, but we all know that driving conditions to Terrace in the winter can be fine but they can also be very treacherous.

I know that when several friends as well as myself have taken Hawk Air this past year, the numbers during even the summer were not that high and heard from fellow passengers the same. I think the small company stuck it out for as long as they could. On CFNR Radio a manager stated they are “hopeful of a return to Rupert in the summer” so it may not happen. The company had to do what they need to do to survive, but I don’t like how they handled the announcement.

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I find the excuse that it is not financially viable to be complete crap…you can barely find a flight out of Prince Rupert anymore…there is no way there is less traffic today than their was 5 years ago.

Hawkair which is a Northwest airline is abandoning the very people they said they were all for.

If they come back in the summer, fine, but I won’t be giving them my money…my money will be going to the airline that is sticking with this community, through thick and thin.

I think Hawk Air simply does not have the resources to sustain any long slower periods, for a while I visited a friend in the area of the highliner afternoons when the buses were loading and unloading and very often saw small numbers. Besides what I said earlier what I heard and saw in my own travels The other thing is both AC and WJ have vast networks for connections, which is certainly a factor. For a while Hawk Air over nighted a plane here and were the first flight out to arrive around 10:00 into Vancouver, I thought it might of made things viable. Based on their most recent schedule it was afternoon and it was tough to make that work for me personally, it may have been a tiny piece of the overall issue for them as well.If Jazz raises rates more will go to Terrace. At one point it was estimated that in the summer month the equivalent of a plane a day from Rupert was flying out of Terrace. I know when Hawk Air started service about 2000 they simply had a shuttle to Terrace airport, and than later came here, I will miss them but at the same time as long as Jazz doesnt raise prices would be inclined to go with a schedule/connections that work for me as well. Terrace for me isnt always convenient, but i understand why many go there for the great savings esp groups/families

Seriously, how can one small airline compete when most people here go to Safeway to buy food, and spend their Air Miles points on Air Canada flights.

I’m guilty of that too… the savings are irresistible.

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I agree its a huge factor as well PLA for a while CMA/ Hawk Air had Airmiles seats as well it was short lived.

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