Canada's Swoop Eyes Two More International Routes This Winter

This past week, Canadian low-cost carrier Swoop announced a number of new services for its upcoming winter schedule. The WestJet subsidiary hopes to fly Canadians to warmer destinations located south of the border this winter.

Service to Los Cabos

On September 15th, Swoop announced the addition of non-stop service to Los Cabos International Airport (SJD) to its winter schedule. This will see service to the Mexican leisure destination from both Edmonton and Toronto.

This non-stop service will operate from Edmonton just once per week, starting November 20th, and from Toronto twice weekly beginning on December 4th.

Swoop schedule — A look at introductory fares and frequencies. Photo: Swoop

For the service between Toronto and Los Cabos, it appears that both Air Canada and Sunwing will also be competing for passengers. From Edmonton, Sunwing has an occasional non-stop service to Los Cabos as well.

SWOOP Routes — A visualization of the routes recently announced by Swoop. Photo: GCMap.com

"Just in July, we experienced a 25% rate of growth in the international segment compared with 2019, and we are confident that Swoop will be a key player to keep Cabos in the international spotlight." - Raúl Revuelta Musalem, CEO of Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, via statement.

Stay informed: Sign up for our daily and weekly aviation news digests.

Service from Winnipeg to Orlando

On September 16th, Swoop announced a new service between Winnipeg Richardson International Airport (YWG) and Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB). As part of its winter schedule, the new service is set to begin on December 9th/10th with a twice-weekly frequency.

As part of Swoop's statement, Tom Nolan, President and CEO Orlando Sanford International Airport, said the following:

"We are pleased that Swoop will be increasing the number of destinations to accommodate all the pent-up air travel between Canada and Florida."

The battle of the Canadian LCCs

The battle for Canadian passengers' winter vacation time and money is heating up. It was just a few months ago that ultra-low-cost carrier Flair Airlines announced that it would be expanding into the United States.

Flair will fly to Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Springs, and more. However, like Swoop, the airline will also fly to Orlando Sanford. This will see service to SFB from five Canadian cities: Toronto (YYZ), Kitchener-Waterloo (YKF), Ottawa (YOW), Montreal (YUL), Halifax (YHZ). With Swoop already operating a Toronto-Orlando service, there will be a little bit of overlap between the two carriers.

Flair is under investigation by Canadian authorities. Photo: Flair Airlines

If we examine the routes of the two carriers a little more, we will see that both fly to Phoenix (Mesa), Las Vegas, and Orlando. The overlap in routes is minimal, with the airlines mostly flying from different Canadian cities. At present, it seems like Toronto-Orlando and Toronto-Phoenix are the only services where both airlines will go head to head.

For now, at least, Flair won't be adding service to Mexico as it focuses on establishing service to its new US destinations. However, with leisure-focused Sunwing operating service to Los Cabos from four Canadian cities, Swoop's winter service to the Mexican hotspot could be a small challenge.

Have you flown with Swoop before? Share your experience by leaving a comment!