I think that Delta Air Lines will stay in Cranbrook for a very long time, because Cranbrook has had an excellent winter season with 3 flights a week on the CRJ200 from December to the end of March, to and from Salt Lake City. The flights were not to full in December and the beginning of January, but for February and March, as the word was starting got out to the world just how great the powder for skiing is in the Kootenays, people all the way from Europe, the States, and other areas of the world flew to Cranbrook on Delta and made pretty much every flight booked solid. The biggest percentage of flyers on Delta to Cranbrook in the winter season was residents from Cranbrook and the area, and California. Delta Air Lines was happy with the winter season so they have decided to continue through the summer season from June 20th to September 5th on Saturday’s to and from Salt Lake. The bookings for the summer are already looking sort of good, but there is still a month to go till the service begins again. Also the area within 1.5 hours of Cranbrook has over 27 world class golf courses and the St. Eugene Mission 5 minutes from Cranbrook was rated the 3rd best golf course in Canada by Golf Digest, also Shadow Mountain, a PGA tour qualified course is only about 3 minutes from the airport, it is the East Kootenay's largest golf course and is to be completed on July 1st of 2009. There are 2 ski hills within 1 hour of Cranbrook, and those would be the Kimberley Alpine Resort (20 minutes from the Canadian Rockies International Airport, now the easiest ski hill to access in Canada), and the Fernie Alpine Resort which was rated the 6th best ski resort in North America, the East Kootenays and Glacier Nat’l Park in Montana is called the Crown of the Continent by National Geographic as being the most beautiful place in North America. My Aunt is on City Council in Cranbrook and was at a meeting at the airport with the city, the airport manager, and Delta, and they were talking about having a Boeing 767-300 flying in direct from Atlanta, Georgia once a week in a few years or maybe five years. It looks like WestJet has missed there opportunity to get into Cranbrook, but mind you they could still start service.
The airport also just had a huge expansion of $13 Million with an expansion of the runway from 6000ft to 8000ft, and are still negotiating with the Ktunaxa First Nation tribe in expanding it to 9000ft to accommodate direct charter flights from Europe, and there are charters flying in from all around North America that are 737's, and 757's right now. The Terminal building also got expanded from 9,000sqft to 23,000sqft. The Fly YXC alliance group that markets the Canadian Rockies International Airport and Cranbrook also spoke with United Airlines in Chicago, Alaska/Horizon Airlines in Seattle, and Frontier Airlines in Denver, as they all seemed interested, Delta was the one who first said “I want to fly to the Kootenays.”
I am 99.9% sure that if WestJet began service to Cranbrook it would work for two reasons, most of the taxes and fees from Cranbrook are pretty high and people are choosing to fly from Spokane and Kalispell more, but if WestJet brings lower prices people will fly on WestJet to were ever, they already know that close to 45,000 people from the area fly from Spokane, Calgary, and Kalispell to get to places, Cranbrook and the rest of the East Kootenay's is bigger than Kalispell and their area in population, they have pretty much all the same tourism as the East Kootenay's, and they can sustain flights from all around the U.S. on 737's, and other jets, so I am pretty sure that the East Kootenay's could also do it. Cranbrook’s population is getting close to reaching 30,000 now and the East Kootenays is getting close to 80,000 as the whole entire Kootenay region's population is over 150,000 people. People just need to get the word out to the world and tell them what we have to offer in the Kootenay's and it will take off like crazy! The word is starting to get out, and I have noticed a big increase in how busy Cranbrook has just become in the last year, like there are alot of new businesses and franchises such as car dealerships, shopping stores, big box stores, and resturants setting up in Cranbrook. Cranbrook and the area is greater than every think's it is, just come out here and have a fabulous time, or move here and start a family. After all, Cranbrook is the sunniest city in British Columbia, and the East Kootenay's is the warmer side of the Rockies!
This is why I think that Delta will continue to fly into Cranbrook, and maybe WestJet too!