GROWTH SPURT

WestJet Announces Major Europe, U.S. and Canada Expansion

WestJet on 18NOV announced its full summer schedule for 2025, including new, non-stop service between St. John’s and Paris CDG and welcoming back Halifax-Paris and St. John’s-Dublin flights.

As well, WestJet will enhance its existing transatlantic connectivity by starting its service between Halifax and both Edinburgh and Dublin one month earlier than 2024, while increasing St. John's previous service to London Gatwick from three-times weekly to four-times weekly.

Growing its global hub's transpacific service, WestJet also will maintain its daily service to Tokyo this summer, while increasing Calgary's capacity serving Incheon, Korea.

Route

Frequency

Start date

End date

Summer service
change

 

Transatlantic

St. John's -
Paris

 

1x weekly

May 18

October 19

New route

St. John's -
Dublin

 

2x weekly

May 22

October 23

Returning route

St. John's -
London
(Gatwick)

 

4x weekly

April 28

October 25

Increase frequency

Halifax - Paris

4x weekly

May 16

October 25

Returning route

Halifax -
Edinburgh

 

3x weekly

May 15

October 14

Service extension

Halifax -
Dublin

 

4x weekly

May 20

October 13

Service extension

Transpacific

Calgary -
Incheon

 

4x weekly

March 31

October 19

Increase frequency

The airline also will boost service from YYZ to Aruba, Kingston and Tampa by 33%, and from Pearson to FLL by 20%.

New U.S. and Domestic Flights

WestJet also is adding service to three new U.S. cities; Raleigh/Durham, Salt Lake City and Anchorage, and adding direct flights between Calgary and both Sydney, N.S. and Sudbury.

WestJet said it’s growing transborder service by 11% this summer, operating to 29 airports with more than 900 weekly departures, and continuing to enhance its connectivity from across Canada to Delta Air Line's major U.S. hubs. Through WestJet's longstanding partnership with Delta, guests connecting through Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Salt Lake City and Seattle will gain access to a vast network of U.S. destinations on a single purchased ticket with check-in for all flights at first departure, baggage tagged to their final destination and lounge access for select guests.

WestJet’s summer 2025 schedule features 10% growth network wide and domestic growth of 12%. As the airline introduces two new domestic and three new transborder destinations, along with 11 new routes across its network, WestJet is actively pursuing its strategy to improve air travel accessibility and affordability across Canada, officials said.

"WestJet's expanded summer schedule reflects our continued commitment to connecting Canadians by increasing our domestic and international capacity. In Canada alone we are growing capacity by 12%, operating to 41 airports with over 3,000 weekly departures," said John Weatherill, WestJet Group, Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer. "Offering more options for business and leisure travel, we're excited to see our guests' stories take off this summer as we ensure Canadians have affordable and reliable access to visit the people and destinations they love."

This summer, WestJet will deliver double-digit increases in total seat capacity across 10 major Canadian airports:

Calgary

11%

Edmonton

23%

Kelowna

15%

Montreal

31%

Ottawa

36%

Regina

23%

Saskatoon

19%

Vancouver

12%

Victoria

18%

Winnipeg

19%

WestJet will welcome two new domestic destinations to its network this summer with direct and exclusive service to Calgary. These new domestic routes enhance opportunities for Canadians to explore the country along with increased access to connect onwards to WestJet's vast network of global destinations, through its global hub in Calgary.

Sudbury, Ontario: Bringing two-times weekly service to the largest metropolitan area in Canada currently without WestJet operations, the airline is opening a highly-anticipated gateway for Northern Ontario communities to connect to Western Canada for business and leisure getaways this summer.

Sydney, Nova Scotia: In alignment with WestJet's strategy, the airline continues to strengthen its seamless connectivity between Atlantic and Western Canada, with the addition of two-times weekly service between Sydney and Calgary.
Anchorage, Alaska: Launching two-times weekly service between Calgary and Anchorage, Canadians connecting via the airline's hub, will gain coveted seasonal access to Alaska's incredible recreational landscapes and popular cruise opportunities.

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina: Providing three-times weekly access between Calgary and one of the fastest-growing U.S. cities, WestJet will give Western Canadians seamless access to a thriving business hub, home to leading companies in healthcare, education and technology.

Salt Lake City, Utah: In addition to providing non-stop access to Utah's scenic landscapes, WestJet's new five-times weekly service between Edmonton and Salt Lake City will be monumental for business and leisure travellers.

In addition, WestJet will significantly grow Western Canada's summer connectivity to Florida, introducing four new routes to the sunshine state including a first-ever YVR-TPA flight.

WestJet also will extend between Winnipeg and Orlando to year round. In addition, Winnipeg-Nashville service will return for the full six-month summer season in 2025.

The acquisition of nine leased Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, along with Swoop and Sunwing planes, allows the airline to bolster its strategic fleet growth, while managing delays for direct-from-factory aircraft, airline officials said. Updating and refreshing the interior cabins of all of these aircraft will be prioritized as part of the airline's existing fleet reconfiguration plans, to ensure a consistent experience for guests across its operation as soon as possible.

WestJet also has announced a series of measures aimed at making travel this coming winter a much better experience.

Jim Byers

Contributor

Jim Byers is a freelance travel writer based in Toronto. He was formerly travel editor at the Toronto Star and now writes for a variety of publications in Canada and around the world. He's also a regular guest on CBC, CTV News, Global News and other television and radio networks.

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