Yahoo Finance WestJet to suspend flights between Toronto and Montreal amid shift to Western Canada
Airline shifted focus to service the western part of the country after a strategic review
WestJet Airlines is suspending service between Toronto and Montreal, reducing competition on the route connecting Canada's two biggest cities.
A spokesperson for the Calgary-based airline confirmed on Wednesday that the airline would stop flying between the two cities this winter. Service between Toronto and Montreal will resume in April next year.
The suspension was first reported by CTV News.
WestJet spokesperson Julia Kaiser says in an emailed statement that the route was suspended "as a result of performance and in alignment with our strategic direction to expand our presence in Eastern Canada this winter with increased non-stop connectivity to Western Canada."
"The WestJet Group remains extremely committed to Eastern Canada," Kaiser said.
WestJet announced last June that it would be shifting its operations to focus on service in Western Canada following a strategic review, "returning WestJet to its roots." The airline first launched in 1996 as a low-cost carrier and didn't fly east of Winnipeg until 2000.
Chief executive officer Alexis von Hoensbroech in April provided an update on the company's strategic review, and said that the airline "will be growing in the east" by focusing on expanding service between Western and Eastern Canada.
"I want to be clear on this point, we will be growing in the East. Our growth in the East will focus on point-to-point travel to Western Canada, and all elements of leisure travel," von Hoensbroech said.
The airline already had dramatically reduced capacity between Toronto and Montreal compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, WestJet flew an average of 341 flights per month between Toronto's Pearson International Airport and Montreal in the winter, with a monthly capacity average of about 29,000 seats. This October, the airline is scheduled to operate 28 flights between the two cities, with seat capacity of 4,200.
Air Canada, meanwhile, is scheduled to operate 742 flights between both Toronto airports and Montreal in October, while Porter Airlines will fly 407 flights between the two cities during the same month.
At the same time, Air Canada has been adding service to its main Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver markets and recently axed a number of regional routes in Western Canada as well as direct service to some larger Western Canadian cities, such as Regina and Saskatoon. In late-August, it cut six major routes out of Calgary from its winter schedule.
Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.
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