Air Canada announces end of non-stop flights between Ottawa and Calgary

An Air Canada flight makes its final approach as it lands in Ottawa on July 3, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld)

Air Canada is cutting a connection between Ottawa and western Canada this fall.

The airline announced Wednesday that it will be ending its non-stop service between Calgary and several locations, including Ottawa, at the end of October.

Other affected cities include Halifax, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Cancun and Frankfurt.

In a statement, the airline apologized for the impact this change has for customers and said affected passengers will be offered alternate travel options, including re-routing over other airports, or a full refund.

Ottawa International Airport spokesperson Krista Kealey says the news is disappointing.

"We are always disappointed when our community loses any air service and hope this is a seasonal pause," she said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa. "We are happy, that YOW is still connected to Calgary with both WestJet and Flair, and see an opportunity for other carriers who are rapidly growing their non-stop service from YOW."

Air Canada says its change is due in part to an industry-wide shortage of pilots and to "improve the overall stability" of the airline. It does not expect this change will result in any layoffs.

"The industry-wide shortage of regional pilots is expected to have a prolonged impact on Air Canada’s regional network. This has resulted in resource pressures as Air Canada has been required to operate certain routes with mainline aircraft that are normally served by its main regional partner," a statement said.

"Additional constraints are arising from challenges in the overall supply-chain in the complex aviation environment, including in maintenance parts supply chains, sometimes resulting in delays to return aircraft to service. This has led to a review of the network schedule to ensure resources are deployed most efficiently and productively against these current, ongoing industry considerations."

 --With files from CTV News Calgary's Michael Franklin.

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