News Releases

Schedule highlights airline's continued service to 39 Canadian cities from coast-to-coast

Airline's stringent health and safety measures ensure Canadians can travel safely to 48 destinations

CALGARY, AB, July 13, 2020 /CNW/ - WestJet today released its updated August schedule featuring more than 200 daily flights to 48 destinations across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, Mexico and Europe. The schedule features service to 39 domestic airports and further highlights the airline's commitment to ensuring air service and regional connectivity is available to Canadians from coast-to-coast.

The updated schedule is supported by the layered framework WestJet has built to ensure Canadians can continue to travel safely and responsibly through the airline's Safety Above All hygiene program. The airline continues to provide flexibility in booking, change and cancellation policies for guests.

"With the many safeguards and procedures in place, we are certain Canadians can safely resume travel to destinations across our network," said Arved von zur Muehlen, WestJet Chief Commercial Officer. "We continue to adapt our schedule to meet the needs of our guests and through our continued investments economies can begin to recover with the support of domestic tourism driven by air travel."

Between July 15 through to September 4, 2020, WestJet will increase domestic frequencies and offer operations to 48 destinations including 39 in Canada, five in the U.S., two in Europe, one in the Caribbean, one in Mexico.

The airline will reintroduce non-stop Dreamliner service from Calgary to London (Gatwick) and Paris effective August 20, 2020 and will continue to serve five key transborder destinations including Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York (LaGuardia) and Orlando. The airline will also offer service to Cancun, Mexico and will resume operations once-weekly to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Continued von zur Muehlen, "Despite these headwinds, we are committed to ensuring air travel remains affordable and accessible to Canadians from coast-to-coast during this difficult time. While an increase in flying is a positive sign, we are prudently monitoring our guests loads to ensure we are managing our airline and the health of our guests and crew responsibly."

The August schedule reflects approximately a 10 per cent increase in flying from July, but a decrease of 75 per cent less flying from August 2019. It also includes select frequency reductions and temporary domestic route suspensions between stations across Canada due to continued border closures and provincial travel restrictions.  

"The patchwork of domestic travel restrictions and quarantine periods that are currently in place within our own borders are severely limiting Canada's economic recovery and putting hundreds of thousands of jobs in our critical industry at risk," said von zur Muehlen. "We must standardize intra-provincial travel advice to ensure Canadians can move safely and freely across our country."

At this time, the airline is planning on operating the following domestic routes and frequencies from July 16 to September 4. The below frequencies represent peak service within this time frame:

ALBERTA AND NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

BRITISH COLUMBIA AND YUKON

ONTARIO

SASKATCHEWAN AND MANITOBA

QUEBEC

ATLANTIC CANADA

At this time, the airline is planning on operating the following transborder and international routes from July 16 to September 4, 2020.

Temporary domestic route suspensions for July 16 – September 4, 2020.

About WestJet 
WestJet and WestJet Encore continue to connect all 39 of the airline's domestic airports, with a reduced frequency, to ensure essential travel, trade and cargo can continue during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, WestJet has maintained its status as one of the top-10 on-time airlines in North America as named by Cirium.

For more information about everything WestJet, please visit westjet.com. 

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Recent recognition includes: 
2019/2018/2017 Best Airline in Canada (TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice awards for Airlines) 
2019 Winner Among Mid-Sized Airlines in North America (TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice awards for Airlines)
2019 Number-One Ranked Canadian Airline Loyalty Program in Member Engagement (Bond Brand Loyalty) 
2019/2018 Number-One-Ranked Airline Credit Card in Canada (Rewards Canada) 

SOURCE WESTJET, an Alberta Partnership