Edmonton’s recovery continues; WestJet now has half of seats; non-US international has done well

Edmonton is Canada’s fifth most populous city. The airport welcomed 6.9 million passengers in 2023, about 10% lower than in 2019 and 12% lower than the peak year of 2018. Seven other years since 2010 had more traffic than last year. FBO numbers are excluded.

The recovery continues, helped by WestJet’s new route to Atlanta, which began on 29 April (daily). It is the first time the Georgia hub has been served from Edmonton. The carrier will also begin San Francisco on 20 June (5-weekly) and Nashville on 2 May (2-weekly). In both cases, it effectively replaces Flair. Elsewhere, Porter will start Montreal on 1 May (daily).

Domestic and US traffic recovering, but other international surpassed 2019

Despite the arrival of Porter in February 2023, Edmonton’s domestic traffic was lower than in the pre-pandemic period. Various domestic operators have exited the market recently, such as Air Transat (2020), First Air (2019), Lynx (2024) and Swoop (2023).

Transborder service to the US was down by a quarter compared to 2019, despite US airport pairs increasing from 11 to 14. The decline was from capacity cuts from various operators. The market also saw the end of American (2019) and Delta (2020).

The standout was other international traffic, which was at the highest level since 2015. Non-stop flights to the Caribbean, Mexico and Europe were provided by seven carriers last year. Airlines included Condor, whose Frankfurt flights began in May 2023 (2-weekly). Flights return in S24 on 17 May. Icelandair ceased serving Edmonton in 2020.

WestJet has half of S24 seats

Analysing Cirium schedules information shows that WestJet has one in two of Edmonton’s available seats in S24. It is more than twice the size of Air Canada, with the pair having nearly three-quarters of the airport’s capacity. WestJet’s flights are operated by the carrier itself and Dash 8-Q400-operating Encore.

While WestJet’s capacity has risen by 8% versus S19, departing seats are only up by 95,000, nowhere near enough to offset the 267,000 offered by the carrier’s lower-cost unit, Swoop, which has been subsumed into its parent. Swoop was previously Edmonton’s third-largest carrier.

Two developments stand out: the growth of Flair, which has served Edmonton since 2017, and the arrival of Porter, which is now the airport’s fourth-largest airline. Flair has 12 Edmonton routes in S24: eight domestic and international services to Cancun, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Puerto Vallarta. Porter has three: Toronto YYZ, Ottawa and Montreal.

Domestic airports account for nine of the top 10 destinations

According to Cirium data, Edmonton has non-stop flights to 47 destinations in S24, based on having at least four flights. Some 24 destinations are domestic, with nine of the top 10 all being within Canada.

Not surprisingly, Toronto YYZ is number one. It has 129-weekly flights in July, operated by Air Canada (58), WestJet (29), Porter (28) and Flair (14). The 2,700-kilometre market was also served by Air Transat in 2019, Swoop until 2023 and Lynx until earlier in 2024.

Nineteen airports have been cut since 2019

Using Cirium to compare Edmonton’s network since the start of 2019 indicates that 17 airports are no longer served. They are summarised below, with the year the last time they were served:

• 2023: Hamilton, Kamloops, London (ON), Penticton, Phoenix AZA, Quebec City, Tucson
• 2022: Burbank, Fort St John, Orlando SFB, San Diego
• 2020: Cayo Coco, Houston IAH, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, London LGW, Keflavik, Miami

Notice the UK entry. London has been served from Edmonton on many occasions. In the past 20 years, Air Transat, Thomas Cook, WestJet and Zoom all flew to LGW. Air Canada flew to LHR until 2015. The UK remains unserved from Edmonton, but Amsterdam and Frankfurt have flights.