Canadian consortium the WestJet Group has announced an ‘expansive’ schedule for the Winter 2024-25 season to capitalize on passengers seeking sunnier climates south of the border. The Calgary-based group comprised of leisure carrier Sunwing Airlines and WestJet will operate to 63 destinations in the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America this winter. Together the airlines will increase transborder capacity by five percent and capacity on Latin-Caribbean routes by three percent.
John Weatherill, WestJet Group’s Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer, said: “Our winter schedule is building on our ambitions to ensure Canadians benefit from a comprehensive network of affordable domestic air service, while providing seamless access to fulfill cold-weather escapes to the most popular sun destinations.”
The WestJet Group completed its acquisition of Sunwing Airlines in May 2023 and together with the WestJet brand is seeing significant growth in the Canadian market. In addition to the 63 destinations south of the border, the group will also operate to three transcontinental destinations (Tokyo, Paris, and London) and have 37 domestic airports on its network over the winter season. “As we bring more seats and affordable fares across our entire network, we are giving Canadians choice and flexibility this winter,” said Weatherill.
The group will also be leveraging its codeshare partner Delta Air Lines’ network via the U.S. carrier’s hubs including Atlanta and Minneapolis. Flights to Delta’s hubs will be increased over the winter by 42 percent on a year-by-year comparison. This will give passengers the opportunity for one-stop connections from Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and Vancouver to more than 100 U.S. destinations on the Delta network.
WestJet’s domestic network will be able to offer ’71 unique domestic routes’ with a total of 323 daily domestic departures. According to the airline, this will give passengers the choice of ‘more unique routes between Eastern Canada and Western Canada than any other airline.’ The announced schedule increases will also give WestJet a 53 percent market share of domestic services operating within and between the Eastern provinces of British Columbia and the group’s home province Alberta.
Several airports will benefit from double-figure domestic capacity growth (vs. winter 2023). Winnipeg (44 percent), Regina (24 percent), Saskatoon (27 percent), Edmonton (32 percent), Kelowna (14 percent) and Vancouver (16 percent) lead the way. Calgary will have a six percent increase in domestic capacity year-on-year compared to last winter.
Kelowna in British Columbia will have the addition of a daily non-stop flight to Seattle beginning in January. “This route will provide guests in the Okanagan and across the Pacific Northwest regions with new convenient and affordable options to easily connect between both popular regions for business and leisure year-round,” said Weatherill.
