CALGARY, le 17 mai 2019 /CNW/ - Avec le départ du vol 10, WestJet est devenue aujourd’hui la seule compagnie aérienne à exploiter une liaison sans escale entre Paris et Calgary. La nouvelle liaison de la compagnie, ainsi que son partenariat de partage de code avec Air France, offrent un nouvel accès historique entre l’Ouest canadien et l’Europe. Canadian business and leisure travellers now can fly to and from 11 cities in greater Europe including Rome, Venice, Athens and Lisbon through WestJet's Air France codeshare partnership from Paris. Today's flight is the second of three 787-dreamliner inaugurals that are central to WestJet's global strategy and selection of Calgary as its initial Dreamliner hub.

"WestJet's first non-stop flight from Calgary to Paris opens up a key market for inbound tourism to Western Canada and easy and unique travel opportunities throughout Europe for Western Canadians," said Arved von zur Muehlen, WestJet Chief Commercial Officer. "We are proud to be Calgary's biggest airline and will continue to invest in our operations and infrastructure to benefit the economy, tourism and markets in Calgary and Western Canada."

The service operating between Calgary and London, Paris and Dublin will support 650 full-time jobs and $100 million in total economic output. This is in addition to WestJet's yearly economic output of more than $5 billion and support of more than 32,000 direct and indirect jobs in Alberta.  Overall WestJet's national economic impact on Canada annually generates $17.4 billion and supports more than 153,000 jobs.*

All flights between Calgary and Paris are operated on WestJet's newest aircraft, the 320-seat, 787-9 Dreamliner featuring WestJet's business, premium and economy cabins.

Details of WestJet's new non-stop Dreamliner service:

By June 2019, WestJet will offer flights to 67 non-stop destinations with an average of 975 flights per week from YYC. More Calgarians choose WestJet for their air travel than any other airline.

*The Economic Impact of WestJet (2019) B787-900 International Scheduled Air Services: Calgary Dublin, London, Paris Prepared by RP Erickson and Associates

Additional Quotes

"WestJet's non-stop flights between Calgary and Paris offer significant opportunities for Calgary's robust tourism industry, which welcomes over 7.7 million visitors annually," said Cindy Ady, CEO of Tourism Calgary. "Thanks to this new connection, we have enhanced opportunities to showcase our city's unique offerings to more visitors and elevate Calgary's reputation as the ultimate host city."

"This is a huge win for Alberta. These direct flights to Europe open up access to new markets for Alberta businesses, while making it even easier for investors to come to our province," said the Honourable Tanya Fir, Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism, Government of Alberta. "It's also a big boost for our tourism sector-and our government is proud to stand behind Alberta-based businesses like WestJet who are pounding the pavement to sell Alberta as a key destination and showing the world that Alberta is open for business."

"WestJet's new Dreamliner routes open up extensive markets for the Calgary business community to connect with a wider global customer base," said Sandip Lalli, President and CEO of Calgary Chamber of Commerce. "WestJet's ongoing business developments are a true testament of their reputation as a successful Albertan business operating internationally."

"From downtown Calgary to Paris' Champs-Elysees in about nine hours, we're excited for this new direct flight to France. Congratulations and thank you to WestJet for their significant investment that contributes to economic growth in Calgary and Alberta," said Rob Palmer, Chief Financial Officer and Vice-President, Finance, of The Calgary Airport Authority."

À propos de WestJet
En collaboration avec la compagnie aérienne régionale de WestJet, WestJet Encore, nous offrons des services réguliers vers plus de 100 destinations en Amérique du Nord, en Amérique centrale, dans les Caraïbes et en Europe et vers plus de 175 destinations dans plus de 20 pays grâce à nos partenariats avec des compagnies aériennes. Vacances WestJet offre des vacances abordables et flexibles vers plus de 60 destinations et permet de faire son choix parmi plus de 800 hôtels, centres de villégiature, condos et villas.  Les membres du programme Récompenses WestJet gagnent des dollars WestJet sur les vols, les forfaits vacances et plus encore. Members use WestJet dollars towards the purchase of flights and vacations packages to any WestJet destination with no blackout periods and have access to Member Exclusive fares offering deals to WestJet destinations throughout our network and those of our partner airlines.

WestJet est fière d'avoir été reconnue pendant trois années consécutives meilleur transporteur aérien au Canada (2017 à 19) et d’être nommée parmi les transporteurs aériens intermédiaires préférés des voyageurs en Amérique du Nord (2019). De 2017 à 2018, WestJet a également été nommée parmi les transporteurs aériens de taille moyenne et à bas prix préférés des voyageurs en Amérique du Nord. La compagnie aérienne a également été reconnue parmi les gagnants de la classe économique en Amérique du Nord, 2018. Toutes les récompenses sont basées sur des avis authentiques du public voyageur sur TripAdvisor, le plus grand site de voyage au monde. Nous sommes l’une des rares compagnies aériennes au monde à ne pas pratiquer la surréservation.

WestJet is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol WJA. Pour plus de renseignements sur tout ce qui concerne WestJet, veuillez visiter le site Web de WestJet.

Recent recognition includes:
2019/2018/2017 Meilleure compagnie aérienne au Canada (Prix TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice pour les compagnies aériennes)
2019 Gagnant parmi les compagnies aériennes de taille moyenne en Amérique du Nord (TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards for Airlines)
2018/2017 Gagnant parmi les compagnies aériennes de taille moyenne et à bas prix - Amérique du Nord (TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards for Airlines)
2018 Gagnant - Économique, Amérique du Nord (TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards pour les compagnies aériennes)
2018 cartes de crédit de compagnie aérienne numéro un au Canada (Rewards Canada)
2018 Meilleure compagnie aérienne à bas prix d’Amérique du Nord (Skytrax)
2018/2017/2016 Transporteur aérien le plus digne de confiance au Canada (Gustavson School of Business de l’Université de Victoria)

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SOURCE WESTJET, un partenariat albertain

For further information: To contact WestJet media relations, please email media@westjet.com