In a series of official statements, WestJet has announced the restoration of routes right across Canada. This July will see the airline restore non-stop service to dozens of cities from coast to coast. All of this has been made possible by the continued easing of government restrictions, prompted by falling case numbers and an effective vaccination roll-out. Here's what you can expect from WestJet this summer.

"We continue to work towards the restoration of our pre-COVID domestic network to ensure that when our guests are ready to travel, we are there for them. WestJet remains committed to building back stronger for the betterment of all Canadians..."-John Weatherill, WestJet Chief Commercial Officer

Many services restored this weekend

Today WestJet announced all of the routes that it would be restoring. Some of these will begin today, with more restarting this weekend and over the next week. Two even launched yesterday. Here is a summary of WestJet's service restorations:

  • Alberta: Non-stop service from Calgary to 42 cities and from Edmonton to 16 cities.
  • British Columbia: Non-stop service from Vancouver to 18 cities, from Victoria to eight cities, from Kelowna to seven cities, from Comox to four cities and from Nanaimo to three cities. From the communities of Kamloops, Penticton and Prince George, the airline will connect to two communities non-stop.
  • Saskatchewan: Non-stop service from Saskatoon to seven cities and five cities from Regina.
  • Ontario: Non-stop service from Toronto to 26 cities, from Ottawa to five cities, from London to two cities, and serve one city from Hamilton and Windsor.
  • Atlantic Canada: Non-stop service to Atlantic Canada from Halifax to six cities, from St. John's to three cities, from Charlottetown to two cities, and from Moncton, Fredericton, Deer Lake, Gander, and Sydney to one city.

The extremely long list of routes, their frequencies, and relaunch dates will be located at the bottom of this article.

The bulk of WestJet's domestic services utilize the Boeing 737. This includes the newest generation 737 MAX. Photo: WestJet

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Relaunch momentum likely to continue

WestJet's restoration of service across Canada should be much welcome news for Canadians and once-furloughed airline employees. Indeed, this big news comes two weeks after the airline announced that it would be increasing its Hawaii flight schedule by 25%.

Despite all of this activity, there is still some way to go before WestJet makes a full recovery to pre-pandemic operations. Although quarantine requirements have been eased for fully-vaccinated arrivals, the government of Canada has yet to officially reopen its borders to foreigners (non-citizens and non-residents). Therefore, there is still a lot of activity that WestJet and other Canadian carriers are missing out on due to regulations.

For its part, WestJet had a robust southern sun network as well as a decent transatlantic route map. Pre-pandemic, the airline had announced service to Rome as well. At least we know that the carrier will launch service to Amsterdam this August.

The 737 MAX is WestJet's newest aircraft type. Photo: acefitt via Wikimedia Commons 

WestJet route restorations in detail

Below you will find an exhaustive list of WestJet's restored services across Canada. This includes frequencies and restart dates.

Alberta route restarts between now and July 6, 2021

Route Peak Frequency Route restart date
Edmonton – Nanaimo* 2x weekly June 25, 2021
Edmonton – Regina 6x weekly June 25, 2021
Edmonton – Comox 5x weekly June 25, 2021
Calgary – Prince George 4x weekly June 25, 2021
Calgary – London, Ont. 4x weekly June 25, 2021
Edmonton – Winnipeg 6x weekly June 30, 2021
Calgary - Windsor 2x weekly June 26, 2021
Calgary - Whitehorse 2x weekly June 27, 2021
Calgary – Medicine Hat 5x weekly June 27, 2021
Edmonton – Halifax 2x weekly July 1, 2021
Edmonton – Penticton* 2x weekly July 3, 2021
Edmonton – Kamloops* 2x weekly July 4, 2021
Edmonton – Saskatoon 6x weekly July 6, 2021
Calgary – Charlottetown * 2x weekly July 29, 2021

 

British Columbia route restarts between now and June 30, 2021
Route  Peak Frequency Route restart date 
Victoria – Winnipeg * 3x weekly June 24, 2021
Kelowna - Regina * 2x weekly June 24, 2021
Nanaimo – Vancouver 2x daily June 25, 2021
Nanaimo – Edmonton * 2x weekly June 25, 2021
Comox – Vancouver 2x daily June 25, 2021
Kelowna - Saskatoon * 2x weekly June 25, 2021
Kelowna – Victoria 4x weekly June 25, 2021
Vancouver – Cranbrook 1x daily June 25, 2021
Abbotsford - Prince George * 2x weekly June 25, 2021
Prince George - Calgary 4x weekly June 25, 2021
Victoria – Ottawa *  1x weekly June 26, 2021
Comox - Edmonton 5x weekly June 26, 2021
Comox - Toronto * 1x weekly June 26, 2021
Victoria - Saskatoon * 2x weekly June 27, 2021
Victoria - Toronto 2x weekly June 30, 2021
Penticton - Edmonton *  2x weekly July 4, 2021
Kamloops - Edmonton * 2x weekly July 5, 2021
Vancouver – Fort St. John 4x weekly July 13, 2021

 

Atlantic Canada route restarts

Route Peak Frequency Route restart date 
Charlottetown - Toronto 4x weekly June 25, 2021
Fredericton - Toronto 1x daily June 26, 2021
Deer Lake – Toronto 4x weekly June 27, 2021
Halifax – Sydney 1x daily June 28, 2021
Gander – Halifax 3x weekly June 30, 2021
Moncton - Toronto 1x daily July 1, 2021
Halifax - Edmonton 2x weekly July 2, 2021
Charlottetown – Calgary * 2x weekly July 29, 2021

 

Ontario route restarts between now and June 30, 2021

Route  Peak Frequency Route restart date 
Toronto – London 6x weekly June 24, 2021
Toronto – Charlottetown 4x weekly June 25, 2021
London – Calgary 4x weekly June 25, 2021
Windsor – Calgary 2x weekly June 26, 2021
Toronto - Deer Lake 4x weekly June 26, 2021
Toronto – Comox* 1x weekly June 26, 2021
Toronto – Fredericton 1x daily June 26, 2021
Ottawa – Victoria* 1x weekly June 26, 2021
Toronto – Quebec City 1x daily June 28, 2021
Toronto – Victoria 2x weekly June 30, 2021
Toronto – Moncton 1x daily June 30, 2021

 

Saskatchewan route restarts between now and July 6, 2021

Route  Peak Frequency Route restart date 
Regina – Kelowna * 2x weekly June 24, 2021
Regina – Edmonton 6x weekly June 25, 2021
Saskatoon - Kelowna * 2x weekly June 25, 2021
Saskatoon – Victoria * 2x weekly June 27, 2021
Saskatoon - Edmonton 6x weekly July 6, 2021

So will you be flying on any of these services this summer? Let us know by leaving a comment.