On Saturday night (7), WestJet operated its inaugural flight from Calgary to Rome, a route that was originally scheduled for May 2020 but had to be postponed due to the pandemic.
This is the first time the two cities have been linked by a scheduled non-stop flight and will mark a milestone in the tourism recovery process in both Alberta and Italy.
WestJet will operate three weekly flights between Calgary and Rome, departing on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 6:20 PM to arrive at Fiumicino Airport at 11:55 AM the following day. Return flights will be on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 1:55 PM, arriving in Calgary at 4:19 PM.
Flights will be operated on Boeing 787-9 aircraft with sixteen seats in Business, twenty-eight in Premium Economy and 276 in Economy. WestJet has six aircraft of this model with an average age of 2.7 years.
WestJet route to Rome, an incredible milestone
«The launch of our highly anticipated Calgary-Rome service is an incredible milestone for both WestJet and our guests, as we’ve been looking forward to this moment, for more than two years,» said Angela Avery, WestJet’s Executive Vice President of External Affairs. «With its rich history and culture, it is no surprise that our guests are eager to visit Rome. We are thrilled to provide Western Canadians with increased connectivity to this incredible city. We are also excited to bring guests from Rome to visit Canada and assist with the recovery of Canada’s vital tourism industry.» she added.
Jason Kenney, Premier of Alberta, said, «WestJet continues to be a true Alberta success story. This new step, expanding its international offerings with a direct flight to Rome will create new opportunities for Albertans to see the world.»
Rome joins four other European destinations served by WestJet from Calgary, which will have the following schedule during the peak summer season in July:
- Paris-CDG: five weekly flights.
- Dublin: three weekly flights.
- London-Gatwick: five weekly flights.
- London-Heathrow: four weekly flights.
This represents a 42.9% higher seat offer than the same month in 2019 (+47.3% ASK) between Calgary and Europe by WestJet, highlighting the airline’s leadership at its hub, given that overall transatlantic seat capacity at Calgary in July will be 13.3% below 2019.
Air Canada operates seven weekly flights to Frankfurt and London-Heathrow, the same frequency as KLM from Amsterdam.
WestJet transatlantic offering
By July 2022, WestJet’s flight offer between Canada and Europe will consist of the following (in addition to the flights from Calgary):
- Halifax – Paris-CDG: four weekly flights.
- Halifax – Dublin: three weekly flights.
- Halifax – Glasgow: three flights a week.
- Halifax – London-LGW: seven flights a week.
- Vancouver – London-LGW: seven flights a week.
- Toronto – Barcelona: three flights a week.
- Toronto – Dublin: seven flights a week.
- Toronto – Edinburgh: four flights a week.
- Toronto – Glasgow: three flights a week.
- Toronto – London-LGW: nine flights a week.
This implies a growth of 37.3% in the number of weekly operations and 52.2% in the number of seats offered compared to July 2019, while the whole Canada – Europe airline market will be 14.1% down in frequencies and 14.9% in seats offered, according to information obtained by Aviacionline through Cirium.
Last week, WestJet and Air Transat announced the signing of a codeshare agreement that will connect eighteen cities in WestJet’s domestic and US network with 10 European cities served by Air Transat via Montreal and Toronto.
