WestJet in the west, Air Canada in the east: Why Canada's airlines are becoming more regional

The two dominant national airlines are increasingly focusing less on offering nationwide service and more on their regional strengths as they try to improve their financial performance — and also fend off soaring competition.

Those pressures are why experts say WestJet is focusing heavily on Alberta, while Air Canada is prioritizing markets in the east, such as Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. 

Those strategies are resulting in many service cuts in different parts of the country. 

WestJet has slashed service in Atlantic Canada, Ontario and Quebec, including about an 80 per cent cut in flights between Toronto and Montreal compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Conversely, Air Canada no longer flies out of several smaller airports in Western Canada, in addition to cutting service to larger cities on the prairies. Out of Calgary, the airline does not offer direct flights to Nanaimo, Cranbrook, Kamloops, Castlegar and Victoria in British Columbia, or Lethbridge, Regina, Saskatoon, Medicine Hat in Alberta. Air Canada flew those routes in 2019.

"It really is carriers trying to solidify their fiefdom," said John Gradek, faculty lecturer in the aviation management program at McGill University.

"They're trying to basically create barriers to entry for other carriers, which is normal in a competitive environment."

Aviation was one of the hardest-hit sectors when the pandemic began. As travel slowly returns to normal volumes,  the launch of new airlines, such as Lynx and Canada Jetlines, and the growth of smaller carriers, including Flair and Porter, is also impacting the air travel industry.

The smaller airlines often focus on the most profitable routes in the country, which can take a bite out of WestJet and Air Canada's bottom line.

"There are some moves afoot by established carriers to kind of say, 'OK, we will create our own little fortresses and we'll manage those fortresses and we'll try to build our strengths around those fortresses,'" Gradek said.

In 2022, WestJet announced a new strategy, which included a restructuring of its regional fleet to focus on Western Canada and pull back on some routes in other parts of the country. The company is privately owned, so its financial performance is not publicly reported.

In October, Air Canada posted its first operating profit since 2019, as the airline slowly recovers from the pandemic.

"We are continuing to rebuild our business in a prudent way which involved looking at every aspect of our network and deploying our resources efficiently and where they will be most productive," the airline said in an e-mailed statement.

Air Canada continues to fly out of every province and provide access to the main hubs in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, the airline said.