Air Canada and WestJet have announced that both airlines will be expanding this spring and summer.
WestJet has increased its frequency of flights from Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Its greatest increase is out of Vancouver International Airport, which will see an increase of 60 more flights weekly, from 88 to 112.
Service to Edmonton will increase from 50 to 59 flights weekly, Kelowna from 40 to 49, Ottawa from seven to 14 and Fort St. John from six to 12. There will also be increases in flights to Regina, Victoria, Cancun and Cabo San Lucas.
New routes from WestJet include a daily flight from Halifax to London (Gatwick) beginning April 29, Calgary to Whitehorse four times a week from June 29 to September 2 and a daily flight from Prince George to Calgary beginning June 20.
“WestJet is again providing additional service to benefit both the business traveler as well as the leisure guest,” said Brian Znotins, WestJet vice president, network planning, alliances and corporate development, in a press release. “With [these] increases, we will have more than 80 daily departures, and that means increased connectivity as well as convenience.”
Air Canada has also increased their flights, including non-stop domestic flights; flights from Edmonton to Kelowna and Kelowna to Edmonton will be available year-round, while flights from Edmonton to Victoria, Victoria to Edmonton and Calgary to Comox will be available seasonally.
These additions join the non-stop domestic and international flights from Toronto to Omaha, Providence, Nanaimo and Kamloops; Montreal to Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Victoria; Edmonton to San Francisco; and Vancouver to Sacramento.
Air Canada will also be launching international services this year from Toronto to Ireland, Portugal, Croatia, Romania and Argentina; Montreal to Japan, Ireland, Romania and Portugal; and Vancouver to Switzerland and France.
“We are pleased to offer new non-stop flights onboard our Bombardier Q400s between popular BC and Alberta cities as we continue to strategically expand our already extensive domestic network,” said Benjamin Smith, president, passenger airlines at Air Canada in a release.
These changes are extremely beneficial to planners. Increases in flights give planners more options for departure times, arrival times and destinations to travel to and from, while non-stop flights allow for total relaxation—say goodbye to worrying about luggage arriving on time or missing a connecting flight.
