WestJet next month will cut 80 percent of its seat capacity, about 100 weekly flights, to Canada's Atlantic region, the carrier announced.
On Nov. 2, the carrier will indefinitely suspend service to four cities: Fredericton and Moncton in New Brunswick; Sydney, Nova Scotia; and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Service to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, will be cut to three routes. WestJet will fly 14 times weekly between Halifax and Toronto, 11 times weekly between Halifax and St. John's and nine times weekly between Halifax and Calgary.
"We have dramatically increased service across Atlantic Canada over the last decade, and everywhere we have flown has seen a doubling of available flight options and halving of the average airfare," WestJet president and CEO Ed Sims said in a video message. "A decision to remove service is not one we took likely."
In addition to demand to the region being "obliterated" by the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, the carrier also is facing fee increases from five airports in the region, along with a recent increase in rates owed to air traffic control operator Nav Canada, he said. That has all combined to make it "unviable" to serve the markets in the region, according to Sims.
"With thousands out of work and a Covid-induced recession in full swing, price increases that make air travel more expensive are not what the air traveling public needs or can even afford right now," he said.