LONDON – Canada’s second largest airline, WestJet, has announced a massive expansion from its base in Edmonton (YEG/CYEG) – the largest expansion seen by the carrier from this airport in its entire history.
As part of the expansion, WestJet has launched two brand new routes across the border into the US as well as a large increase in its domestic offering within Canada.
Services will stretch from coast to coast to allow passengers a seamless transition through the airport, should they be connecting through Edmonton.
WestJet commitment to Edmonton
With this renewed commitment to Edmonton, the airline will be increasing its services by almost 50% throughout this year’s summer season, compared to 2022.
On top of this, the announcement demonstrates how WestJet is determined to grow its presence in Western Canada, as well as bolstering east to west connectivity across the country.
To celebrate the achievements made by the airline this week, WestJet in partnership with Edmonton International Airport was joined by their valued partners from across the region to hold a special event in the heart of city’s vibrant downtown ICE District.
Praising the announcement, Edmonton International Airport’s President and CEO, Myron Keehn said: “WestJet continues to invest in our region by creating important non-stop routes to critical destinations that foster business development and propel the visitor economy”.
“The more flights we have at YEG, the more opportunities we can offer Edmonton, our region, and Canada’s North, and we’re thrilled to welcome even more WestJet flights to our airport and showcase the Edmonton Region as an attractive hub for tech, sustainability, trade and tourism”.
The Routes
So with all the fanfare surrounding the new routes being launched by the airline this summer at YEG, lets take a look at the specifics of these new routes, looking at when they will start and their week on week schedule.
- Minneapolis (MSP/KMSP) – One of the two new US routes will launch on June 2nd and operate 5x weekly.
- Seattle (SEA/KSEA) – The second US route will launch on May 19th and also operate 5 times a week.
- Charlottetown (YYG/CYYG) – All the way out on the east coast, just north of Halifax, this new route will start on June 14th and operate once a week.
- Moncton (YQM/CYQM) – Sticking in the same area as Charlottetown on the east coast, flights to Moncton will begin on June 29th and operate 2x weekly.
- Penticton (YYF/CYYF) – Interestingly not all of these routes are fresh routes never seen/operated by the carrier. Penticton, just east of Vancouver is returning on July 1st after last operating in 2021 and will run twice weekly.
- Nanaimo (YCD/CYCD) – Another route that was last operated in 2021 and in fact has resumed for the 2022/2023 winter season, however WestJet has taken the decision to increase it to a year round service operating 2x weekly.
- London (YXU/CYXU) – Another brand new route for YEG will launch on May 19th and will also operate twice a week.
- Ottawa (YOW/CYOW) – Flights to the Canadian capital just gained another option. WestJet joins Air Canada and Flair Airlines starting on April 30th running 6 times a week.
- Montreal (YUL/CYUL) – The 9th and final route being launched is Montreal which will begin on June 30th with flights running twice a week.
The announcement summed up
Monday’s announcement by WestJet that they will be significantly increasing their services at Edmonton is certainly not something to brush over for two reasons.
For one, it is the largest upscaling in flight offerings by the carrier in its almost 29 year history for the secondary base in Alberta.
Secondly, it shows that WestJet is truly committed to not just operating out of Edmonton, but also committed to its new strategy that the airline is applying for 2023.
The airline plans to concentrate a large majority of its services out of Western Canada, with its hub in Calgary taking the lead role and as such it will be interesting to see how WestJet will continue to apply this strategy over the coming years.
