United Airlines’ non-stop flight from Regina to Denver ready for takeoff

Get your passport ready – a daily, non-stop direct flight from Regina to Denver is officially here.

The United Airlines plane is set to arrive in the Queen City on Thursday evening before heading for Denver on Friday for its inaugural flight from Regina.

Read More:

Regina Airport CEO James Bogusz said the first flight is nearly sold out.

“That’s very good on the first flight,” Bogusz told the Greg Morgan Morning Show.

“The future, though, is concerning. We are seeing, obviously, some softening of trans-border numbers.”

Bogusz said the Denver hub is rated number six in the world, and opens up many connections to flights overseas.

“We have to consider the scale of this,” he said. “It’s a mega-hub for United. Even comparing to a place like Toronto, Pearson – not to suggest that is small, but it’s smaller than Denver by a wide margin, so this is a great opportunity for us.”

While many Canadians are avoiding travel to the U.S. amid the trade war between the two nations, Bogusz said the airport is still seeing reasonable demand for its Minneapolis flights.

“It’s not quite the same as it was a couple of months ago,” he said.

“I’m seeing more propensity for travel, talking to folks in the hold room. This is the area you wait for the plane going to Minneapolis and connecting through.”

However, Bogusz said, it is still a mixed bag when it comes to Canadians heading south, but the upside is that both the flights to Denver and Minneapolis use smaller aircraft.

“Thankfully there are not a lot of seats to fill, and I think that’s why we’re seeing success in the Regina market, and we’re not seeing the reductions you’re hearing about in some of the other markets in terms of planes getting cut,” he explained.

Bogusz said it’s important to remember that softened revenues will not cancel the Denver or Minneapolis flights in the short term. He said they’re backed by minimum revenue guarantees.

“In the short term, we’re making sure – with financial help, if needed only – that these flights will be supported,” said Bogusz.

“What that means is we’re helping the airline out for an initial period. It’s going to be at least a few years before we would look at any major concern, unless something very structural happens to the network. I’m not going to talk about COVID anymore, but something catastrophic or something we can’t anticipate.”

WestJet is also adding direct round-trip flights from Regina and Saskatoon to Halifax this summer for the very first time.