by Jim Byers
Last updated: 2:17 PM ET, Mon January 29, 2018
WestJet's European expansion has taken a sexy turn with the announcement of their first flights to France. The Calgary-based airlines also is putting down stronger roots in Halifax and boosting flights across other parts of its network.
WestJet announced it's "connecting Atlantic Canada to the world by air" with daily direct flights between Halifax Stanfield International Airport and Gatwick Airport in London, as well as daily direct flights from Nova Scotia to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. The latter marks WestJet's first foray into continental Europe; a major step in a grand international expansion plan that could soon see them flying to Asia, South America and further into Europe.
All flights will be operated on the airline's "newest, most efficient and guest-friendly aircraft," the Boeing 737-8 MAX.
One-way intro fares from Halifax to Paris or London are available now for just $199 all in. WestJet will begin daily service between Halifax and London Gatwick April 29. Daily flights between Nova Scotia's biggest city and Paris start on May 31.
"We've had great success with our flights to Gatwick, Dublin and Glasgow," said Brian Znotins, WestJet Vice-President, Network Planning, Alliances and Corporate Development. "We've wanted to go deeper into Europe and now with the (Boeing 737) Max 8 plane we can do that. "We've been eager to get at it for a while, so it's a pretty exciting time," he said in an exclusive interview with TravelPulse Canada.
"As the carrier with the most transatlantic flights from Halifax, we are thrilled to announce our first foray onto the European mainland," said Ed Sims, WestJet Executive Vice-President, Commercial. "Venturing to London and now Paris is an indication of our ambitious growth plans as we move towards becoming a global network carrier."
WestJet began flying to Dublin, Ireland in 2014. It since has added flights from Canada's east coast to London Gatwick and Glasgow.
Znotins told TravelPulse Canada that WestJet expects to take delivery of three Boeing 787-9 planes early next year and that they should begin flying in the second quarter of 2019. Those planes can fly some 14,000 km's, which should mean an announcement of new WestJet destinations in the second half of this year.
WestJet on Monday also announced a slew of added flights within North America, including 72 more weekly flights out of Calgary, 60 more out of Vancouver, 28 out of Toronto and 23 added flights out of Edmonton.
On the North American side, Znotins said WestJet is "really looking to beef up our schedule for premium travellers. We're now flying between Calgary and Vancouver every hour, which is what travellers really want."
Details of WestJet's increased service from Calgary include a boost in Calgary-Vancouver flights to 16 times a day, an increase in Calgary-Edmonton flights to 12 times each business day, one more Calgary-Montreal flight per week (now up to 20) and a boost in Calgary-Windsor flights from six to seven times a week (one per day).
WestJet will begin serving Denver International Airport daily from Calgary starting March 8 and will launch four-time weekly service between Calgary and Mexico City on March 14. Service becomes daily starting April 29.
Also among the changes are an increase in Vancouver-Edmonton flights from 50 to 59 times weekly and an increase in Vancouver-Ottawa flights from seven times a week to 14 (twice a day). They're also adding one more Vancouver-Cancun flight per week and another Vancouver-Cabo San Lucas flight each week.
WestJet will launch three-time weekly service between Vancouver and Mexico City with the route moving to daily service on April 29.
Increased Toronto service on WestJet includes added flights to both Ottawa and Montreal, as well as increasing Toronto-Victoria flights from three to four times a week. Increased Toronto flights to sun destinations include Cancun (from nine to 10 times a week), Montego Bay (10 to 11 per week), Nassau (four to five per week), Puerto Plata (two to three), Punta Cana (five to six) and Fort Myers (from four to five a week).
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