Edmonton International Airport and WestJet Group ready to launch

Top leaders in aviation, travel and business joined by Premier Kenney as they work to safely reinvigorate travel

Participants from the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, Indigenous Tourism Alberta, Tourism Jasper, Edmonton Global, Edmonton Destination Marketing Hotels, Government of Alberta, City of Edmonton, MacEwan University, University of Alberta, Sturgeon County, NAIT along with members from the airport’s board of directors spoke of how deeply they have been impacted and discussed how the EIA and the investments being made by WestJet and Swoop to safely restart travel are beneficial and how the organizations could continue to support recovery in the region.

“WestJet and Swoop act as critical partners of Edmonton International Airport by providing a network of non-stop air services that our region relies on for business and leisure travel,” said Tom Ruth President and CEO Edmonton International Airport. “Convening our business, community and government partners reflects the priority that we all share to use air service as a fundamental driver of our region’s economic recovery. We look forward to working together to build further air services as we look forward to the safe return of air travel.”

“Edmonton has played a critical role in Swoop’s success and we are grateful to the Honourable Jason Kenney and our partners who joined us today,” said Bert van der Stege, Head of commercial and Finance, Swoop. “Swoop maintained service to Edmonton throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, not only ensuring our travellers had access to affordable essential air travel domestically but also sustained operations as the only airline providing connectivity to the U.S. and Mexico up until February of 2021. We remain committed to supporting the rebound of tourism to the region and stimulating demand for air travel as Edmontonians look to travel domestically or internationally by air once again.”

With Albertan’s uptake on vaccines at more than 70 per cent for the first shot, the Government of Alberta has led the opportunity to safely enable Albertans to start reconnecting with family, re-establish business markets and travel to new or much-loved destinations through their Open for Summer plan. 

Both WestJet and Swoop announced their plans in late spring for Edmonton’s domestic recovery with the addition of new routes and the restart of more than 15 routes that had been suspended due to lack of demand.  Most of the routes begin operation late June/early July.

WestJet and Swoop Restart and New Routes