Good for YEG to start seeing these new additions, it was ridiculous the gutting of the last few years, and totally uncalled for. These additions are proof the routes are viable.
I'm glad I spent the time to do a thorough WS flights listing in summer 2024, it is proving to be a great resource and I have been updating it for subsequent periods since. I know some of my data and/or calculations could be erroneous, but I was pretty careful when I did the list in July. And although the general ranking and trends in my numbers were similar to Aeroroutes breakdown, there were several pair combinations where my comparisons were quite different from their analysis.
A couple main takeaways from the WS Summer 2025 releases (I have not yet done YYC, so no analysis of their numbers). First off, kudos to their media team for really taking the time to publish releases on most schedule changes, and in greater depth and with more personalization (ie. their separate releases for each jurisdiction discussed). Most airlines don't even publicize route changes, but WS really works at communicating detail, and really plugging the locations like a salesperson. It might be kind of hokey, but as an airline/airport enthusiast, I love their detailed news releases.
Second, some general network observations:
-Encore seems to be really struggling based on my data comparison. I know Link was a bust, but at least they were just partnering with Pac Coastal and using their planes. But Encore is fully WS. I thought Link ending would boost Encore, but they seem to be bleeding capacity (I used week of July 15, 2024 compared to week of July 15, 2025). The loss of Link plus slower growth at Encore is the only reason why YVR capacity is up but not by the same % as places like YEG. WS moved quite a bit of capacity from Encore to mainline at YEG, for example. Their transborder offerings have never taken off (was way...). Their sole offering from YVR, YEG, YYZ, YWG, and YHZ is 4 weekly YEG-SEA flights lol, that's bleak to not even have daily to SEA. I wonder if they are possibly migrating back to mainline only.. Just a musing, I have no more info than anyone, just seems like they are retreating.
The top route pairs (one way) are:
YYC-YVR - 119 flights
YYC-YYZ - 76 flights
YYC-YEG - 63 flights
YYZ-YVR - 55 flights
YYC-YWG - 54 flights
YEG-YVR - 53 flights
(after this is drops down below 50).
Summary of the top 3 (non YYC) airports:
Total Flights
YVR – 506
YEG – 404
YYZ – 370
Total Destinations for summer
YYZ – 35 (reclaims #1)
YVR – 33
YEG – 32
Total Seats
YVR – 69,627
YYZ – 58,072
YEG – 57,645
Mainline Flights
YVR – 382
YYZ – 370
YEG – 331
Domestic Flights
YVR – 404
YEG – 348
YYZ – 262
Here is a more discussion based on my comparison July-July, definitely some differences from AeroRoutes:
YVR
-Maintains role as 2nd largest WS airport, with 506 weekly flights (382 mainline, 124 Encore). This works out to approx. 69,627 seats.
-Mainline flights up 18% from July 2024
-Encore up 4%
-Link down 100%
-Growth y/y to YYC, YEG, YYZ, YLW, YWG, YOW, YQR, YXE, BOS, BNA, ATL, TPA, LAS, SAN, ORL, PHX, SJD, PVR (18 destinations)
-Same frequency y/y to YXS, DTW, LAX, SFO, HNL, PSP, CUN (7)
-Reduced frequency y/y to YYJ, YXJ, YXT, YUL, YOW, YQQ, YXC, YCD, OGG
-Route cancellations to YHZ (loss of 3) and SNA (loss of 4)
-2/3 of the frequency reductions were on Encore (and mainly because they replaced Link's tiny Saab planes with a 78-seater, so capacity is probably up but frequencies go down. Only YUL, YOW, and OGG had reductions on mainline. So not doom and gloom, just more showing the weakness West<>East
-If airport nerds had an awards show for flight routes, I would certainly give special recognition to ATL. The uptake in capacity has been wild, 15x weekly flights now?! They went from zero to being the largest transborder destination from YVR in such a short time is insane. I always knew the market was there, it was frustrating to see Delta in and out like it was hanging on by a thread. And then to stop entirely, it was so backwards to me. So to see WS keep increasing is great to see! Combined with adds to BNA, ORL, DTW, and BOS, they have a strong Eastern presence, and are certainly expanding from their former reliance on California and Hawaii ex-YVR. NYC is the obvious hole, it is the
only DL hub not served by either DL or WS from YVR. Cathay gone, AC and UA only at EWR, and then JetBlue to JFK? Definitely room for DL or WS to to JFK I'd think.
Eastern Canada
-I found it interesting their relatively equal spread of Europe between YYZ, YYT, and YHZ. A nice way to spread the love, just interesting that their Europe capacity is still fairly small, but they are not funneling everything through one point. Hey, they must have some strong reason to do it this way, they have experience on the routes, and the expected payoff must be there.
-Still surprises me to have YYC from LHR only, and then YYT and YHZ from LGW only. It's like the 737 service from the Maritimes and 787 service from YYC are different airlines
. Again, lots of reasons for this, just odd initially to have a relatively smaller international carrier not use the same airport for their routes
-The WS migration from GLA to EDI is all done (they used to do GLA from several stations). I initially found it surprising that they chose EDI over GLA; at YVR at least, any time we have had Scotland service, it's been to GLA (Air Transat, Zoom, I think Thomas Cook at some point?). So being ignorant about Scotland, I always assumed GLA was their biggest airport. But then I looked it up, and EDI is way bigger for pax traffic, close to double! I never would've thought, based on flights I always heard GLA before EDI from Canada. But then I find out GLA and EDI are only 80 KM apart!!! WTF lol I never knew the cities were that close, that's wild, I always imagined them to be way further apart. They are under an hours drive from each other haha, I couldn't believe it! They are basically like YYZ and YHM, so you're basically flying into the same place.
-It's interesting that WS is doing these routes, because they have been pretty lean on the domestic side for Eastern Canada. YYZ is gaining a bit again, although mostly thanks to boosts to YYC, YEG, and YVR and not with its former hub network. YUL is hilarious, I actually love the fact they don't give a *&% about WS lol, they don't blink or even entertain the idea of courting them. All the other places in the East are hustling to get some love, and YUL is totally unbothered. WS is almost trying to be shady back by putting such pitiful frequencies on most routes and only having 5 destinations lol. Sub daily service to YVR, YEG, and YWG lol, it's like why even bother.
YEG
-Maintains role as 2nd largest WS airport in terms of flights (but 3rd place for seats). Flight frequency continues to outpace 4th place YYZ, but with YYZ only having mainline, their seat count is boosted. With 404 weekly flights (331 mainline, 73 Encore). This works out to approx. 57,645 seats.
-Mainline flights up 53% from July 2024 (!)
-Encore down 49%
-Growth y/y to YVR, YYZ, YXX, YYJ, YWG, YUL, YOW, YMM, YQU, ORD, MSP, SLC, LAX, PHX, CUN, PVR (16 destinations)
-Same frequency y/y to YQM, YXE, YZF, YCD, BNA, ATL and LAS (7)
-Reduced frequency y/y to YYC, YHZ, YYG, YLW, YYT, SEA and SFO (7). But in some of these cases (YYC, YLW) the # of flights decreased, but switch to mainline was a capacity boots).
-Route cancellations to YYF (loss of 2 Encore). YYF has really been battered, airlines shifting to YLW more than ever
Incidentally, the Edmonton Journal called YEG the largest outside YYC in their presser this week:
Even before the recent announcement, WestJet has given the Edmonton market increasingly more attention, which — based on passenger’s use of the airline — seems to resonate with the Edmonton customers. Shortly before the pandemic, the airline opened a base of operations in Edmonton, more than doubling its employees in the city and making it the largest of the airline’s bases outside of its headquarters in Calgary.
(
https://edmontonjournal.com/business/edm...more-westjet-flights-than-ever-next-year)
YVR is objectively ahead in terms of flights, capacity, and connectivity. I am not sure about # of employees, but I don’t think YEG could be ahead in that regard when it is behind in all others? I have a feeling they took this quote from another article of their’s from October and just misphrased it:
While the airline may feel that western Canadians have been underserved, Edmontonian flyers have shown a marked preference for WestJet, which consists of about half the traffic at the Edmonton International Airport — the strongest connectivity outside of Calgary, where WestJet’s main base is located. Still, von Hoensbroech said that there’s more room for improvement, which he explained while speaking to reporters.
(
https://edmontonjournal.com/business/westjet-ceo-chamber-of-commerce)
YYZ
-Maintains role as 3rd largest WS airport in terms of flights (but 2nd place for seats). Flight frequency of 370 weekly flights (all mainline). This works out to approx. 58,072 seats. But my counts are just approximate using averages of aircraft capacity and weighting it, YEG and YYZ could swap places if my math was wrong, they are that close)
-Mainline flights up 19% from July 2024, essentially same as YVR
-Growth y/y to YYC, YVR, YEG, YLW, YYJ, YWG, YUL, YOW, BNA, FLL, TPA, ORL, AUA, GCM, LIR, PUJ, UVF, SXM, VRA, and KIN (20 destinations)
-Same frequency y/y to YQQ, YQR, YXE, PVR, ANU, EDI, and DUB (7)
-Reduced frequency y/y to YYT, RSW, LAS, LAX, CUN, MBJ, and NAS (7)
-Routes not operating to PLS and POP (loss of 9 mainline)
-WS seems to have stopped shrinking here, probably reached equilibrium with their status in relation to the other carriers. I assume when WG is integrated into WS, they will dethrone YVR again
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