WestJet flights between Moncton and Calgary will now be offered year-round. They’ll fly Tuesdays and Thursdays each week.

External Affairs Vice-President Andrew Gibbons says, “These flights will be on our state-of-the-art 737 Max 8 aircraft. They are equipped with a full business class cabin and strong economy seating.”

The announcement comes with much optimism for this region, “This is going to allow more bids for large sporting events, your weekend leisure traveller, but you can also attract conventions and meetings to this market which is really going to be critical for the tourism economy here,” Gibbons adds.

Word of the extension of flights was also encouraging news for the greater Moncton Romeo Leblanc International Airport.

“We are thrilled with WestJet’s announcement to continue its non-stop direct service between Calgary and Greater Moncton year-round,” said Courtney Burns, president of the Greater Moncton International Airport Authority, Inc. “Two non-stop direct flights per week on Tuesdays and Thursdays will allow both business and leisure travellers to conveniently experience what each amazing destination has to offer.  It’s great news, the flights have done so well this summer. WestJet has been a strong partner. The connection year-round seems unachievable as we were heading out of COVID with a lot of uncertainty in the market. So to see this commitment from West Jet, we’re just absolutely thrilled.”

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The Chief Economic Officer for the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton also sees the positives in the addition of these flights out west. John Wishart says there’s not just a need to get to Montreal or Toronto anymore, there are many opportunities on the West Coast as well.

“Some of them come here on exploratory visits, wondering if the east coast is going to be to their liking.  This kind of flight makes it easier. A lot of people have family connections in Alberta or B.C. That’s another thing that I think can really be beneficial,” Wishart says.

He adds this will open a lot of doors for other opportunities in the community as well, “Maybe this provides us with an opportunity to mount some sort of trade and tourism mission from Greater Moncton to Calgary. Extole the benefits of either setting up a business here or even leisure travel here, which just wasn’t so easy in the past. ”

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The airport is always looking for other connections that will benefit its customers, according to Burns, “We look a lot at where have people been flying. Where has the demand been historically? What’s great about Moncton is our catchment area. We can draw over 1.4 million passengers within our catchment area, which is really strong when you put a business case in front of an airline. So we kind of look at other airports, and where individuals might be connecting if we were to add a direct flight with one of our partners. It’s anecdotal and some of it’s data-based. It’s also resources from an airline perspective, and they can only go to so many places There really has to be some proven demand in most cases.”

WestJet will also be offering its Sunwing flights this winter offering seats to a number of sun destinations including Cancun, Montego Bay, Porta Plata and Punta Cana.