REGINA — Regina is seeing a large increase in capacity for winter destinations.
An announcement from WestJet on Monday detailed that Regina’s capacity to winter destinations is increasing by 64 per cent year-over-year.
“We were absolutely thrilled with the announcement today on the massive capacity increase year over year for our city and, frankly, all of southern Saskatchewan to be able to enjoy a winter getaway to a favourite sun destination, and in many cases nonstop,” said James Bogusz, president and CEO of the Regina Airport Authority (RAA).
The biggest addition to the winter schedule is a new nonstop flight to Cabo in Mexico. The route begins Dec. 14 and will operate weekly through the end of March.
Cancun will also see a significant increase in service, with some peak weeks featuring daily flights. Bogusz said the airport has never previously seen seven-day-a-week service to the popular Mexican destination.
But not all destinations are returning to this year’s lineup.
“We're no longer going to be seeing the weekly Las Vegas flight. It's been quite a shift from the United States in terms of capacity,” said Bogusz.
Visitor spending in the city is declining as Canadians choose alternative winter travel destinations.
“Vegas has gone down about 25 per cent in terms of demand from 2019's highs. So no real surprise there,” said Bogusz.
Even though the airport lost the Vegas flight, other U.S. destinations will see flight capacity increase in the coming months.
“We're going to see Phoenix, which has been served either once or twice a week, depending on the year, bump to three times per week during peak winter weeks. Minneapolis is also going back to seven days a week come mid-September,” said Bogusz.
Minneapolis service was reduced to six days a week over the summer after flight frequency dropped.
Looking ahead, Bogusz said it remains uncertain whether destinations in Central and South America could be added to Regina’s flight offerings.
“A flight has to be viable and stand on its own two legs in terms of a nonstop offering.”
Bogusz reminded passengers that Calgary is a short flight away and offers connections to destinations around the world.
“It's a very short flight to access virtually any market when it comes to a sun destination, including all of WestJet's partnerships with other airlines.”
