The Calgary-based airline is expanding winter service from Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg, while quietly dropping U.S. flights out of Vancouver
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As WestJet announced a robust winter schedule focused on flights to international sun destinations, the other side of the story went unsaid: The Calgary-based airline is also quietly dropping some U.S. routes, half of them out of Vancouver.
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“This winter, WestJet will offer its most extensive schedule to Latin America and the Caribbean, growing year-over-year capacity by 12 per cent between Canadians’ preferred sun destinations and communities currently within its network,” WestJet said in a news release on Monday.
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Travellers out of Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg will have extra flights to Mexican destinations like Puerto Vallarta, Cancún, Los Cabos and Merida, and service is expanding to resort cities in Belize, Honduras and Aruba.
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Sunrise
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South America is also a growth market, with WestJet’s first flights between Calgary and São Paulo, Brazil, starting in late fall. Travellers can then book connecting flights to 60 South American markets through WestJet.com.
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Meanwhile, 10 routes to the United States are being dropped in the 2026-27 winter season, according to data released late last month by airline tracker AeroRoutes. Five of them are out of Vancouver International Airport:
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• Vancouver–Atlanta (two weekly flights cancelled)
• Vancouver–Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood (one weekly)
• Vancouver–Los Angeles (10 weekly flights, to be picked up by Delta Air Lines starting in November)
• Vancouver–Lihue, Hawaii (four weekly)
• Vancouver–Orlando (one weekly)
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AeroRoutes said WestJet will operate six routes out of Vancouver to the U.S., down from 11, while departures will drop from 66 a week to 49.
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Unlike its expansion in other Western Canadian cities, WestJet makes no mention that it plans to boost service from Vancouver to Mexico, Caribbean and Latin American destinations this winter.
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The other five U.S. routes cancelled this winter are:
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• Calgary–Chicago O’Hare (four weekly)
• Edmonton–Atlanta
• Regina–Las Vegas
• Saskatoon–Las Vegas
• Toronto Pearson–Las Vegas (four weekly)
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A few of these cancellations had already gone into effect, but the airline did not renew the routes for the upcoming season as previously planned.
