WestJet Adds 9 United States Routes This Summer

WestJet has revealed a further nine US routes from Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Vancouver. All begin in May and June. Two of the nine have never been served – at least not in the 33 years since 1990. Five other routes have had non-stops before, two of which by WestJet, but they're currently unserved.

The nine US routes

You'll see from this table that five routes are to four of partner Delta's hubs: Atlanta, Seattle, Detroit, and Minneapolis. WestJet will benefit from the connectivity provided by Delta. Delta itself previously served four of them: Vancouver-Atlanta, Edmonton-Seattle, Edmonton-Minneapolis, and Saskatoon-Minneapolis.

Routing	Starts	Flights	Aircraft (ordered by flights)	Comments	Find flights
Vancouver to Atlanta	May 17th	4 weekly	737 MAX 8, 737-800, 737-700	Last served by Delta in 2020	Click here for Vancouver-Atlanta flights
Calgary to Austin	May 18th	2 weekly	737-700, 737-800	Last served by WestJet in 2019	Click here for Calgary-Austin flights
Calgary to Chicago O'Hare	May 18th	Up to 4 weekly	737-800, 737-700	Last served by WestJet 2012-2018. Direct competition with American (daily) and United (double daily)	Click here for Calgary-O'Hare flights
Edmonton to Seattle	May 19th	Up to 5 weekly	Q400	Last had two airlines in 2019, when Delta ended it. WestJet is against Alaska (daily)	Click here for Edmonton-Seattle flights
Vancouver to Nashville	May 19th	2 weekly	737-700, 737-800, MAX 8	Never been served	Click here for Vancouver-Nashville flights
Calgary to Detroit	May 26th	5 weekly	737-800, 737-700	Last served by Northwest in 2005	Click here for Calgary-Detroit flights
Calgary to Washington Dulles	June 2nd	3 weekly	737-800, 737-700	Never been served	Click here for Calgary-Dulles flights
Edmonton to Minneapolis	June 2nd	Up to 5 weekly	737-800, 737-700	Last served by Delta in 2020	Click here for Edmonton-Minneapolis flights
Saskatoon to Minneapolis	June 19th	3 weekly	737-800, 737-700	Last served by Delta in 2020	Click here for Saskatoon-Minneapolis flights

WestJet Boeing 737-76N C-GRWS taking off.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

Vancouver to Atlanta takes off first

The first route to begin is Vancouver to Atlanta. Taking off on May 17th, the 2,248 mile (3,618 km) airport pair is the longest of the nine announced. According to the US Department of Transportation, Delta introduced it in March 1996, and it initially ran until January 1998. Delta resumed Atlanta-Vancouver in 2003 and it operated until 2020.

(An example of how I see route changes.) Image: Cirium.

In full year 2019, it was operated four weekly from April onwards, mainly using the 737-900. While Delta no longer serves it, partner WestJet will now do so, more or less on its behalf and will a very similar departure time, as Delta had, from Vancouver. It is scheduled as follows, with all times local:

Vancouver to Atlanta: WS1598, 22:25-06:05+1
Atlanta to Vancouver: WS1599, 09:00-11:23

WestJet's 9 additional US routes — (WestJet's added routes.)

Image: GCMap.

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Minneapolis has seven Canada routes

The addition of WestJet from Edmonton and Saskatoon to Minneapolis, replacing Delta, means that the Minnesota airport has seven Canada routes this summer, returning to the number last seen in 2019. In order of flights, there's Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Saskatoon, according to Cirium data.

In 2019, Delta carried 89,000 roundtrip passengers between Minneapolis and Saskatoon, based on DOT information, for a seat load factor of 80%. However, while WestJet will have a three weekly Sasaktoon-Edmonton operation, Delta was double daily, albeit mainly using Embraer 175s and CRJ-900s rather than 737s.

Cirium shows that Minneapolis has an average of 14 daily departures to Canada this summer, but as many as 17. However, flights are at just 67% of what they were – there's a long way to go.

Will you be flying WestJet to/from the US this year? If so, let us know in the comments.