Québec City gains Charlotte route; Air Canada is the top carrier, but WestJet is barely present

Québec City’s metro area is the seventh most populous in Canada. It has more people than Winnipeg and is about twice the size of Halifax. Québec City was the country’s 12th busiest airport last year. It had about 1.69 million passengers, down by about 5.6% compared to before the pandemic in 2019.

Québec City benefited from two new long-haul routes in 2022. On 11 May, Air Transat began the airport’s first UK flights with the launch of London LGW, served weekly in S24 on the A321LR. On 17 May, Air France started flying from Paris CDG. Initially, flights were on the low-capacity A330-200 and later the 787-9, before switching to the 472-seat 777-300ER in S24, the airline’s highest-capacity equipment.

Québec City gains fourth US hub route

The launch of the 1,515-kilometre route to Charlotte on 10 August 2024 will also help the recovery. American’s second-busiest hub and the world’s fifth-busiest airport is served weekly on American Eagle’s CRJ900s.

Québec City has flights to four US hubs in S24: Chicago ORD (American Eagle daily; United Express daily), Newark (United Express, 3-daily) and Philadelphia (American Eagle; daily to 2-daily). Elsewhere in the US, it has flights to Fort Lauderdale and winter-seasonal service to Orlando MCO.

According to Cirium data, Québec City previously had US flights to these major hubs and cities: Boston (until 2007), Cleveland (2010; a former Continental hub), Detroit (2014), New York JFK (2017), Miami (2020) and Washington IAD (2013).

While Air Canada is number one, it has reduced capacity the most

It is not surprising that Air Canada is Québec City’s leading carrier. When the carrier’s units are combined (mainline, Express, and Rouge), it has 139,000 departing seats in Q3 2024, about 42% of the total. However, its available seats are 14% lower than in the pre-pandemic Q3 2019, in stark contrast to the rest of the top 10 carriers.

Air Canada has four routes in the peak summer to Toronto YYZ, Montreal YUL, Ottawa and Vancouver. All are year-round except summer seasonal Vancouver. Its Québec City network will double in Q4 when Rouge-operated snowbird routes to Cancun, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Punta Cana and Tulum (a brand-new route) will operate.

WestJet, Canada’s second-largest carrier, is not a top 10 operator. It has served Québec City since 2008 and previously flew to Calgary, Cancun, Fort Lauderdale, Montreal and Toronto. Until COVID-19 and WestJet’s strategic and network reorientation, it was Québec City’s third- or fourth-largest operator. Now, it only operates from Calgary in the peak summer.

Montreal YUL overtook Toronto YYZ for the top spot by seats

Until the pandemic, Toronto YYZ was Québec City’s leading destination by seats, although Montreal YUL was number one for flights. Now, YUL, just 235 kilometres from Québec City, is first for seats and flights. According to Cirium data, it is served 60-weekly in August by Air Canada (35-weekly), PAL (16), Air Inuit (5) and Air Transat (4). Additionally, Montreal YHU, which is closer to downtown Montreal than YUL, is served by Air Liaison and Pascan’s turboprops.

Paris CDG capacity has grown considerably, and it is now Québec City’s third most-served destination by seats. It is eighth by flights but number one by ASKs. There is a daily service in August: Air Transat operates 4-weekly on the A321LR in August, while Air France is 3-weekly on the 777-300ER.