I did some basic (and hopefully accurate) Westjet flight comparisons for this summer from their "secondary bases" or "focus cities" or whatever wording you want to use (ie. cities that are not Calgary = no formal status). Semantics aside, while Calgary is in a league of its own, the 5 next largest airports vary quite a bit, as you might expect. See below for the summary (again, I hope I didn't make any mistakes, I tried to be as thorough and carefully as possible, but if anyone wants to double check my math, be my guest, I won't be offended
:
Week of Aug. 12-18, 2024
YVR
Total flights this week: 490
Total number of seats this week (approx.): 64,550
Total # of destinations this week: 33
YYZ
Total flights this week: 348
Total number of seats this week (approx.): 54,619
Total # of destinations this week: 39
YEG
Total flights this week: 347
Total number of seats this week (approx.): 49,567
Total # of destinations this week: 31
YWG
Total flights this week: 163
Total number of seats this week (approx.): 24,241
Total # of destinations this week: 14
YHZ
Total flights this week: 91
Total number of seats this week (approx.): 14,282
Total # of destinations this week: 10
Please correct me if YHZ isn't in 6th place (I didn't do the figures for YXE or YLW which I suspect might close on the list, I am burned out so will tackle it later). But I think YVR, YYZ, YEG and YWG are generally accepted to be the 'order of importance' after King Calgary.
YVR very clearly in 2nd place, especially by total flights (the gap between YVR and YYZ is much wider in terms of total # of flights, but in terms of seats offered, it's a narrower gap; this is because YYZ is strictly 737s, whereas YVR has 737s, DH4s, and the itty bitty Saabs, so the total seats from YYZ benefits). Nonetheless, YVR still has slightly more mainline flights than YYZ (353 vs. 348), but it's the Encore (and to a less extent, Link) that boost YVR. The reason why YYZ has the most destinations is because there are a ton of sun destinations even in the summer, with varying frequencies (16 destinations served at least once a week across Mexico/Caribbean/Central America). These sun destinations are one of the remaining strengths for WS at YYZ. They obliterated domestic (it's still respectable, but compared to it's peak, they got rid of a lot of frequency, capacity, and even destinations). Transborder is decent, but still far from what they had before (YVR has more destinations and more flights total than YYZ, which was absolutely not the case before).
I found it very interesting just how close YYZ and YEG are in terms of total # of flights! 348 vs. 347 (and I probably over or under counted somewhere so let's call it identical). Virtually the exact same # of flights for both airports. YYZ still wins in terms of seats, and destinations served, but overall the two airports are about the same amount of activity.
But then things really fall off a cliff. YWG has more or less half the flight frequency as YEG, half the seat count, and half the destinations. So a huge difference, even including the YWG gains. And then YHZ, slightly under half the # of flights as YWG, about 60% of YWG's seat count, and similar destinations served.
When I summon up some stamina I will tackle YYC, that should be intense. But it is very clear the numbers back up the message from WS that YYC is in a league of it's own. YVR would be considered a focus city by many AV geeks, based on it's totals being significantly higher than the next two. Not only that, but YVR's destination list and flight frequencies "look" the most like a focus city (a strong regional feed domestically via Encore and Link is a big factor, YVR is much more a domestic collector/connector for WS than YYZ is, and more than YEG. Then the transborder network is strong, with domestic pax connecting on. Don't forget that there is also a decent amount of inbound domestic pax on WS connecting to Asia thru YVR. WS codeshares with Japan Airlines, Korean Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, China Airlines, Philippine Airlines, and Qantas (sometimes only in one direction ie. China Airlines puts their code on YVR-YYC, but WS doesn't get their code on YVR-TPE?). But either way, WS has international presence at YVR even if they don't fly overseas with their own aircraft. Their relationships with many of the SkyTeam and OneWorld members is very entrenched. I'm telling you, there is a very a healthy amount of WS pax from all over Canada on Qantas' YVR-SYD flights, so it isn't insignificant. Ditto with Philippines and China Airlines, lots of AB folk connecting in YVR from WS to these foreign carriers.
The international front is where YYZ still looks like a base. But when they lost so many domestic links and Encore entirely, it lessened the inbound/outbound connection potential. But there absolutely is still connections across sectors (ie. Canadians from the entire domestic network would connect in YYZ if going to most of the Caribbean. Even YYC isn't close to YYZ's coverage, and especially if going to the more "exotic" places like Bonaire, Cozumel, or even Dominican. YYZ would still be collecting inbound connections for lots of places, I just don't know how much of these flights are filled with locals from the GTA or people from the ROC. YYZ also super strong in Florida coverage, it is essentially the connection point for them just like the Caribbean. YYC has surprisingly meh service to Florida, considering how dominant they are in all other areas (yes I know it's summer season but still, no flights to MIA or FLL, and only 5x weekly to ORL). So YYZ is the defacto jump-off for Florida travel. But still, much lower than I would have guessed TBH. And I didn't realize WS didn't serve MIA at all from any Canadian airport. I think I can remember times when it was served, but can't remember frequencies or even from which airports, but I think YYZ and maybe even YYC at some point? I know they serve FLL (very close), but for some reason I think MIA is an important airport to have connectivity to, and with WS's transborder stampede linking tons of unlikely pairs (sorry YWG, but BNA for you is very out of the blue), it is surprising to see MIA is totally absent from their network.
WS is absolutely nothing at YUL, they are 1/4 of YHZ even. Could be one of the factors in Porter expanding, they don't have AC
plus another strong airlines, much easier to build up than with WS competing with them.
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