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.
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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.
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 |
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.