The Charlottetown Airport released details on its summer schedule for 2019 today and it’s great news for travelers and the tourism industry on Prince Edward Island. Both Air Canada and WestJet have increased their overall seat capacity significantly during the peak summer months of July and August and an additional Ottawa flight has been added by Air Canada this year.
The enhancements to the summer schedule include:
A larger aircraft will be used by Air Canada on their Toronto service, as they will operate a 162-seat Airbus A320 aircraft, from June 20 – October 26. Last year this route saw the use of an Airbus A319, which has 136 seats.
Air Canada has also added a second non-stop flight to Ottawa (arriving at 9:45am and departing at 10:20am) starting June 10. This compliments their early-evening Ottawa service, which runs from May 1 – October 26.
WestJet announced they are adding two additional flights per week to Toronto during July and August, with some of these flights being operated by their brand new 174-seat Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
“We are very pleased to see these increases in capacity from both of our domestic airline partners for summer 2019”, said Doug Newson, CEO of the Charlottetown Airport Authority (CAA). “Strong traffic numbers and high load factors from the previous summers has worked out well for our airline partners and we are happy to see them acknowledge this through these capacity increases and schedule enhancements.”
“This is incredible news for not only the tourism industry but for the provincial economy as a whole, and it’s a clear sign that airlines see the value in our region,” Economic Development and Tourism Minister Chris Palmer said. “The Charlottetown Airport has done a tremendous job encouraging airlines to increase seat capacity to give more people a greater number of options to travel to our province. And that will benefit a wide variety of local businesses and tourism operators.”
Kevin Mouflier, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island noted, “With the continued growth of the tourism industry on Prince Edward Island and the ongoing strong demand for air travel to our Island, this is very exciting news to support the continued visitation prosperity.”
By the numbers:
Air Canada’s total summer schedule capacity is up 12.7% (May – October) and 18.2% in the peak season (July-August)
WestJet’s peak season capacity is up 11%
Overall, July & August capacity is up 15.9% at YYG
Both Air Canada and WestJet’s summer schedules are now available for booking.