LOSE SOME. GAIN SOME MORE WestJet cuts back in Alberta. Bulks up in the east.

Posted on 01/31/2016 | About Calgary, Alberta

Fewer WestJet planes will be flying in and out of Alberta's two biggest cities. Weakness in the energy sector is putting a damper on demand for service between Calgary and Edmonton. As of March, the airline said it will be reducing service between the two gateways while several more routes to and from the two cities are either being cancelled or scaled back.

WestJet vice-president Richard Bartrem says the decline in traffic has been “noticeable enough” to warrant changes, but did not specify how big of a drop the airline saw in the affected markets. WestJet will be removing flights between Calgary and two BC destinations - Terrace and Prince George - while direct flights between Edmonton and Nanaimo and Kamloops, BC are also being cancelled. WestJet is also reducing the number of flights between Calgary and Brandon, Manitoba and Fort McMurray, Alberta and there will be fewer flights between Edmonton and Abbotsford, BC and Grande Prairie, Alberta. The airline is transferring more of its capacity to Eastern Canada and announced enhanced schedules for business travellers with additional service from Toronto to Ottawa, Montreal and Fredericton as well as between Ottawa and Halifax. Starting June 15, flights will operate between Toronto and Ottawa as well as Toronto and Montreal 12 times each daily. Toronto and Fredericton will have a total of three daily flights as of March 5. Three daily flights between Toronto and Boston will begin March 15. And, as of March 5, there will be a total of three daily flights between Ottawa and Halifax. WestJet also announced it will launch new non-stop service from Toronto to Nashville and Los Angeles as part of its 2016 summer schedule. "We are excited about our schedule and connectivity out of Toronto", said Bob Cummings, WestJet Executive vice-president, commercial. "By this summer we will operate more than 120 flights per day from Toronto including new services to Nashville, Los Angeles and Boston in addition to our previously announced daily service to London, England. Building on our already strong connectivity into Toronto from across Canada is a key element of our strategy for profitable growth." In addition to enhanced business travel schedules, new three weekly non-stop flights are being added between Vancouver and San Diego. Vancouver will also see additional service to Los Angeles, Honolulu and Maui while Toronto will see additional service to Orlando, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and Myrtle Beach. Seasonal routes from Halifax and St. John's to Orlando will now operate year-round. There is also a new non-stop route from Calgary to Thunder Bay. By summer 2016, WestJet and WestJet Encore will operate approximately 4,590 flights per week to 101 destinations: 38 in Canada, 27 in the United States, 33 in the Caribbean and Mexico, and three in Europe.