Listen to daily commentary from provincial news director Sarah Mills
Sarah Mills breaks down some traffic woes in today's commentary, and says she's not shy about using the horn when people...
Passengers hoping to travel to Calgary from Saskatchewan are in luck after WestJet decided to fill the void left by Air Canada, which has cancelled all Calgary-bound flights from Regina and Saskatoon.
Regina Airport Authority president-CEO James Bogusz told the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Tuesday that although officials are disappointed Air Canada pulled out of Regina, they’re thrilled that WestJet will be adding two more daily flights to Calgary starting in February.
“By the end of March, we’re going to have almost 200 monthly Calgary departures with WestJet,” Bogusz said. “We’ve not seen this kind of capacity since before the (COVID-19) pandemic.”
He went on to say Air Canada changed a national strategy, focusing on building up Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
“They actually dropped eight cities, not just Regina and Saskatoon,” Bogusz added. “They also dropped places like Victoria, B.C. (and) San Francisco.”
Bogusz also says Air Canada reduced the frequency of flights between major city pairs, like Calgary and Edmonton.
Even though WestJet would be the only airline flying out of Regina to Calgary, Bogusz doesn’t believe ticket prices will increase.
“We’re hopeful that with the extra frequency, they’ll actually, in a way, be competing with themselves,” he said. “Edmonton and Winnipeg were exclusively served by WestJet and Vancouver and Toronto … (were) exclusively served by Air Canada.”
Bogusz acknowledges there’s really limited competition, which is why the airport is looking to attract a low-cost airline to the city.
“We’re hopeful to have something in place again for this summer very similar to Swoop last year,” Bogusz said. “There are a lot of new brands in the market (and) we’re actively pursuing them right now.”
He went on to say airport officials see an opportunity to attract airlines, like Lynx Air and Canada Jetlines, and are encouraging Porter to give Regina a look.
“Even with all those cancellations in December, (airport traffic is at) about 74 per cent of (the) pre-pandemic level, growing toward 80 (per cent) again,” Bogusz added. “We’re really hopeful that … the opening of potential capacity might attract a low-cost airline.”
