WestJet, Canada’s second-largest airline, has been awarded a licence to begin operating scheduled flights to Iceland. The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has approved the carrier’s application, saying it meets all applicable requirements needed to launch service between the two countries.

While the government body’s decision does not specify the exact destinations WestJet intends to serve, the most likely route would involve nonstop flights connecting Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Reykjavik's Keflavik Airport (KEF).

In the past year, WestJet has followed through on a commitment to make its YYC base a “single global connecting hub” where all long-haul international flying is focussed.

This strategy has led to the introduction of new routes from Calgary to cities like Barcelona, Spain; Edinburgh, Scotland; and Tokyo. Simultaneously, European routes have been discontinued from Halifax Stanfield International Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR).

The Canada-Iceland market is served nonstop by two operators at present, both of which are Icelandic. Icelandair provides daily flights from KEF to YYZ and a 4X-weekly service to YVR. Additionally, Play offers daily flights to Toronto John C. Munro Hamilton, which will reduce to 5X-weekly when the northern winter season commences.

Data from OAG Schedules Analyser shows that Air Canada also provided service to KEF during the summer months, running from June through early October. These seasonal flights operated from both Toronto Pearson and Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

O&D traffic between Canada and Iceland totaled some 79,000 two-way passengers during 2022, compared with 193,000 in 2019 before the pandemic. The Sabre Market Intelligence figures reveal that Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal were the top three destinations from Reykjavik, with Calgary the fourth-largest.

The CTA’s approval for WestJet to enter the Icelandic market comes less than a month after the government agency authorized ULCC Lynx Air to offer flights to Barbados, the Bahamas, Colombia, Costa Rica, the European Union, Iceland, Jamaica, Mexico and the UK.