Westjet has outlined plans to resume transatlantic services to London and Paris next month, as part of a revised schedule over the coming weeks offering over 200 daily flights to 48 destinations.
The Canadian carrier will operate three flights per week between Calgary and Gatwick from August 20, as well as twice weekly flights from the Alberta city to Paris CDG from the same date.
By the start of September Westjet aims to be serving 39 domestic routes with increased frequencies, as well as five destinations in the US, two in Europe, one in the Caribbean and one in Mexico.
Routes to the US include flights from Calgary to Atlanta, LA and Las Vegas, Vancouver to LA, and Toronto to New York LaGuardia and Orlando. There will also be weekly services from Toronto to both Cancun and Montego Bay.
The carrier said that the August schedule represented a 10 per cent increase in flying compared to July, but a 75 per cent decrease compared to August 2019.
Last month the group announced plans to streamline its business “for a competitive future following the Covid-19 crisis”, including the laying off of a total of 3,333 employees.
Commenting on the news Westjet’s chief commercial officer Arved von zur Muehlen said:
“With the many safeguards and procedures in place, we are certain Canadians can safely resume travel to destinations across our network. 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.”
“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 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. We must standardize intra-provincial travel advice to ensure Canadians can move safely and freely across our country.”
