WestJet Airlines is cutting back on flights across Canada as it reduces capacity to meet consumer demand, while also trying to reverse its first quarterly loss in 13 years.
The Alberta-based airline is cutting back on flights between Vancouver and Edmonton and Calgary, between Calgary and Denver, between Edmonton and Phoenix along with between Winnipeg and Palm Springs, Calif.
The airline had planned to drop direct flights between Edmonton and Las Vegas, however it reversed that decision this week after customers complained.
Service will be trimmed between Vancouver and Fort St. John, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Palm Springs.
It will also reduce service between Toronto and Los Angeles, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, Winnipeg, Phoenix, Ariz., Aruba, Belize, Huatulco and Liberia.
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Service will also be reduced between Halifax and St. John’s and to Sydney. WestJet will cancel service between the Nova Scotia capital and Deer Lake, NL, and winter flights between Edmonton and Ottawa that will resume next summer.
The airline is also cancelling all service to Mexico City, that will affect both Calgary and Vancouver. However, travel is still possible through its codeshare partner Aeromexico.
WestJet said it is also cancelling service between Montreal and Quebec City effective Oct. 28, more than a year after they started to great fanfare.
Canada’s second-largest airline made a big splash in February of 2017 when it announced that it would take on Air Canada on its home turf in Quebec by pursuing one of the largest expansions in the airline’s history after beefing up its service in French.
It claimed to be in a position to grow its reach in Canada’s second-largest province by population after requiring that all flight attendants hired since 2014 be bilingual.
The airline, which has operated in Quebec since 2003, made its push by adding daily flights between Montreal and Quebec City, Halifax and Boston using 70-seat Bombardier Q-400s.