The Canadian low-cost carrier (LLC) Swoop recently announced that they will be expanding to 3 new destinations and increasing their capacity by 273% across Atlantic Canada compared to pre-pandemic levels. To help facilitate this, they will be adding six new Boeing MAX-8 aircraft to their current fleet of ten B737-800s.
LLC Swoops into Atlantic Canada
The network expansion sees the LLC flying 14 new non-stop domestic routes, in addition to the 23 already served by the carrier. The Airline has been seeing an increased number of domestic bookings and is expanding to try and meet peak season travel demand. Their Head of Commercial & Finance, Bert van der Stege, said:
“We saw demand for travel return in a very meaningful way over the holidays, signalling that Canadians are ready to reunite with family and friends,”
“The acquisition of six new aircraft in response to anticipated demand will ensure Swoop reconnects more Canadians this summer while accelerating Canada’s economic recovery.”
The new routes covered will be:
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Deer Lake – Hamilton, 2x weekly (May 21)
- St. John’s – Hamilton, 5x weekly (June 13)
- Deer Lake – Toronto, 2x weekly (June 20)
New Brunswick
- Moncton – Hamilton – 4x weekly (May 9)
- Saint John – Toronto – 4x weekly (May 12)
- Moncton – Edmonton – 2x weekly (May 9)
Prince Edward Island
- Charlottetown – Hamilton – 4x weekly (May 1)
- Charlottetown – Toronto – 3x weekly (May 2)
- Charlottetown – Edmonton – 2x weekly (May 1)
Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Halifax – Edmonton – 5x weekly (May 1)
- Halifax – Ottawa – Daily (June 19)
A Flair for competition
Canada has two low-cost airlines: Swoop – a subsidiary of Canada’s second-largest carrier, WestJet; and Flair, privately owned.
Two years ago, Swoop was accused of predatory pricing when they undercut Flair on some of their routes by offering $1 flights. In this latest expansion, Swoop is adopting more of Flair’s routes and operating similar flight schedules. Commentators have speculated that this could be an intentional and aggressive play from the WestJet subsidiary.
