I bet they will have some changes between now and the summer, it's along time away still so wouldn't be surprised.
That information was definitely not mean to come out, yikes! WS for sure intended to keep it a secret until Monday, so having it on aeroroutes.com will get it reposted everywhere, Daily Hive, travel sites, etc... Good to see YYT and YHZ getting their Europe footings back, it was certainly not a given after the pandemic, WS was not exactly loving the East back then. So a great relief I would imagine to people in Atlantic Canada, to see these routes reestablishing. A rare example of provinces outside Western Canada getting some love.
And then some fun adds for the West. Separated out the three airports, and did a little commentary on the additions at each. Some general observations overall:
The only route that appears to be season is YYC-ANC, in that it's the only listing that has an end date, the others just have start dates. This was hot behind the scenes information though, WS could have concealed the information leak right away, before it got clocked. so there might be corrections/clarifications once WS makes their formal announcement.
Interestingly, it appears YEG is the only airport that is getting its own media event:
MEDIA ADVISORY - WestJet to make summer schedule announcement for Edmonton International Airport
I assume this is regarding the new WS flights to ORD and SLC, I can't imagine it's anything else. Nice PR for them to do that, and undoubtedly YEG's adds are more important and will have more relative impact on YEG than the YYC and YVR adds have. So it is good on WS for giving it the whole show and press opportunity. They may or may not even mention the YVR or YYC adds right away, or not with the same fanfare as ORD and SLC. Does WS even do big press airport announcements at YYC lol, I feel like they add things all the time and never gets an occasion (understandably so haha).
YYC
Calgary – Anchorage 29JUN25 – 31AUG25 3 weekly 737-700/-800
Calgary – Raleigh/Durham eff 30JUN25 3 weekly 737-800/MAX 8
What you see in Calgary now is very much indicative of fortress hub behaviour. WS reached new levels with its global hub in YYC, and had dwarfed onetime rival YYZ, who rivalled YYC by many metrics. That's ancient history now, and WS just kept adding and adding, to the point where they have most major destinations covered, and have moved down to filling in the secondary markets like BNA,
RDU, and ANC. Like AA out of DFW or DL from ATL, they both have mammoth destination lists. With all major markets covered, plus all the big sun destinations (I don't count Tennessee, Georgia, New Orelans, or Texas as sun destinations, they might be sunny and southern, but they don't fit the criteria. Sun destinations are places like PSP, PHX, SNA, and all the Mexico/Caribbean spots. ATL, IAD, DFW are major economies and of great importance, they may be warm but they aren't just tourists golfing and beaching it up).
So moving onto the next tier of airports is just entrenching even deeper. Other airlines definitely know WS is the dominant force; other airlines are being very demure with additions, don't want to poke the bear lol. Expect additions of second tier places to continue, maybe even Encore if it makes sense.
YEG
Edmonton – Chicago O'Hare eff 04JUN25 3 weekly 737
Edmonton – Salt Lake City eff 15MAY25 5 weekly 737
I know from reading the YEG forum for years that these airports were musts to get back, so kudos to WS for doing it. SLC is a DL hub so there's extra incentive, but ORD is not. Chicago is just an insanely important city and airport hub, that to not have a non-stop link is a travesty. I'm sure it was a financially supported addition as well, but something tells me they added it because it was so important to YEG. It will solidfy them as the largest and most supportive carrier at YEG (not counting Flair, they change all the time so I don't even know when they're up or down). If I were to nitpick, it's that 3x weekly each is decent but not great, they are not destinations like Orlando or Los Cabos which make sense with 1x, 2x, or 3x frequencies. But ORD and SLC, it is skimpy. But hey, that's nitpicking and a minor detail compared to the significance of going the routes.
YVR
Vancouver – Boston eff 09JUN25 4 weekly 737-800/MAX 8 (5 weekly from 24JUN25, 1 daily from 02JUL25, 6 weekly from 01SEP25, 5 weekly from 21SEP25, 4 weekly from 28SEP25)
Vancouver – Tampa eff 14JUN25 1 weekly 737-800/MAX 8
This continues the subdued, understated love that WS has for YVR haha. It isn't laid on thick like YYC, but is consistent, and appreciated after all these years (YVR was a founder city for WS, so the ties go way back). I totally forgot AC stopped BOS, and it was only JetBlue now. Funny to see WS take BOS after AC, seems so much more of an AC route. But BOS is an emerging DL hub, so there's the WS/DL partnership. Not sure how much that matters for YVR-BOS though, so still likely O&D. Anyways, a good addition nonetheless, I just hope JetBlue stays, I appreciate the airline diversity more than WS flying it
. And daily for summer is really good, that's a
real route, not like 3x weekly nonesense to major airports!
The TPA add is the most random I have seen from them in a long time, it is completely out of left field. Of all the destinations, I had no idea this was even in the running for a YVR link. And in the summer no less, thought for sure it would be winter only. I'd have thought WS would sooner boost capacity on an existing route before doing 1x weekly to Tampa. But hey, I will take it; I do love the new destination add (the AC addition to BNA and WS to BOS are both existing routes, and existing airlines, so not the same excitement as a new city). I just like seeing WS hold its own and add transborder at YVR, I've mentioned in several posts over the years about I like seeing both WS and AC succeed, and don't want to see one of them bully the other out. I hope WS keeps BNA, despite AC's not-so-discrete jab at them by launching their own BNA service. Sharing is caring haha, and unless AC is willing to do even more, we need WS's presence and growth. The only place WS was really bullied out is SNA, and they fought long and hard to not give up, it wasn't instant retreat. They hung on for years and years, on a tough market. But they have been strong against AC on LAS, PHX, PSP, across all Mexican destinations, plus Hawaii (both share 3 destinations). And then they will have LIH, ORL, ATL, DTW, BOS, and TPA as routes that AC doesn't operate (and had BNA, until AC announced their service). So it's quite telling that only SNA was a casualty, let's hope it stays that way (or moves up, like today's announcement)
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Makes sense now. 
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