WestJet to Add 100-Plus Flights in Quebec

Last year has been a year of growth for Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport as well as Quebec City's Jean Lesage International Airport—which will soon join Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal as a PreClearance Airport for travel to the United States.

Based on early news announcements in 2017, it looks like neither airport is done growing yet.

WestJet has become the latest Canadian carrier to announce major additions to its flight schedules in both Montreal and Quebec City.

"Our unique brand of great service and low fares has been embraced across Canada for more than 20 years and today, WestJet is here to offer more choice and competition to the Quebec market," said Bob Cummings, WestJet Executive Vice-President Commercial. "The people in Quebec have traditionally been served by a legacy carrier and WestJet believes this significant additional investment in the province will give leisure and corporate travellers a choice in airlines and bring lower fares to more than 8.2 million Quebecers. We look forward to flying hundreds of thousands of travellers to and from this beautiful province to enjoy the area and conduct business. As always, we are committed to making air travel in Canada better."

Overall, the airline is planning to add 105 new flights per week in Quebec, which reflects a growth in capacity of more than 74 per cent.

Read more: Air Canada adds new firsts at Montreal Trudeau.

"The City of Montreal is pleased with the increased frequency of WestJet flights,” said Harout Chitilian, Vice-President of the executive committee of the City of Montreal that is responsible for information technology, administrative reform and youth. “The year 2017 marks Montreal's 375th anniversary and this announcement is perfectly timed to help to promote our city internationally while creating local jobs.”

Read more: Montreal Trudeau welcomes 16th-million passenger.

On June 15, WestJet will connect the two Quebec cities for the first time, adding four daily flights between Montreal and Quebec City. WestJet is also connecting Atlantic Canada with Quebec, with the addition of twice-daily service between Montreal and Halifax on June 15. On October 15, WestJet will also add twice-daily service from Montreal to Boston.

The airline is also doubling its number of non-stop flights to Vancouver from Montreal. In total it will offer 12 flights per week. To Calgary, from Montreal, WestJet will increase service to 19 flights per week, up from 14. From Quebec City, the airline is adding an additional daily flight to Toronto, for a total of three per day.

"I want to thank WestJet for its confidence and support to develop Montreal-Trudeau as a hub," said Phillipe Rainville, CEO of Aeroports de Montreal. "With these three destinations, WestJet will now offer an average of eight additional flights per day and 33 per cent more seats departing from Montreal, which is excellent news for our passengers."  

Read more: Is Montreal the Key to Air Transat’s success?

One the new schedule is fully operational, WestJet will offer 195 weekly departures from Montreal and 50 flights from Quebec City.

All new routes will be operated by WestJet's regional carrier, WestJet Encore, while routes to Vancouver and Calgary will be serviced on WestJet's Boeing 737 aircraft.

Introductory fares will be available for bookings made by February 20. These include $99 one-way fares from Montreal to Boston and $98 one-way fares between Montreal and Halifax. One-way fares from Montreal to Quebec City start from $87 and return fares Quebec City to Montreal start from $98.

For more information, visit www.westjet.com. 

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