Regina travellers will soon have access to a daily round-trip flight to and from Minneapolis beginning next spring.

The route will be offered by WestJet with service expected to begin on April 28, 2024.

Announced at Agribition on Monday morning, WestJet’s Director of Alliances & Airport Affairs Jared Mikoch-Gerke said the company has been in conversation with the province and the Regina Airport Authority for some time.

Direct air access out of Regina was highlighted as critical in those discussions.

“This has been in the making for some time now,” Mikoch-Gerke explained. “We have been having continued dialogue and continued conversation about how we can make this happen and how we can make this happen as quickly as possible.”

Regina has not had a year-round cross border service since 2016. Airport officials say the flight will have 78 seats for arrivals and departures.

“Make no mistake, we are going to keep at this,” said James Bogusz, President and CEO of the Regina Airport Authority. “We are going to look to grow this service, and we are going to look to make sure that our capital city here in beautiful Saskatchewan is now reconnected back to the United States on a full time basis year-round.”

Bogusz believes over the next 24 months, they will be at or above pre-pandemic levels with the added route.

“The only way to get back to 2019 results is by adding more seats into our market,” he added. “This simply means that those new 78 daily seats is another piece toward getting back to what we call normal.”

According to Minister of Trade and Export Development, Jeremy Harrison, the province has committed $500,000 for the minimum revenue guarantee as part of its agreement.

“We did a similar partnership with the Saskatoon Airport Authority as well about a year ago,” Harrison explained. “All of this means though we are going to have significant economic benefits to the crew, to the city, to the province, in a more general sense.”

Saskatoon to Minneapolis flights have been operating since June.