CALGARY, May 17, 2019 /CNW/ - With the departure of flight 10, WestJet today became the only airline to operate a non-stop route between Paris and Calgary. The airline's newest route, along with its codeshare partnership with Air France, provides historic new access between Western Canada and 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."

About WestJet
Together with WestJet's regional airline, WestJet Encore, we offer scheduled service to more than 100 destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe and to more than 175 destinations in over 20 countries through our airline partnerships. WestJet Vacations offers affordable, flexible vacations to more than 60 destinations and the choice of more than 800 hotels, resorts, condos and villas.  Members of the WestJet Rewards program earn WestJet dollars on flights, vacation packages and more. 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 is proud to be recognized for three consecutive years as Best Airline in Canada (2017-19) and awarded among travellers' favourite Mid-Sized Airlines in North America (2019). From 2017-2018, WestJet was also awarded among travellers' favourite Mid-Sized and Low-Cost Airlines in North America. The airline was also recognized among the Economy Class winners in North America, 2018. All awards are based on authentic reviews from the travelling public on TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel site. We are one of very few airlines globally that does not commercially overbook.

WestJet is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol WJA. For more information about everything WestJet, please visit WestJet's website.

Recent recognition includes:
2019/2018/2017 Best Airline in Canada (TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice awards for Airlines)
2019 Winner Among Mid-Sized Airlines in North America (TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice awards for Airlines)
2018/2017 Winner Among Mid-Sized and Low Cost Airlines – North America (TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice awards for Airlines)
2018 Winner – Economy, North America (TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice awards for Airlines)
2018 Number-One-Ranked Airline Credit Card in Canada (Rewards Canada)
2018 North America's Best Low-Cost Airline (Skytrax)
2018/2017/2016 Canada's Most Trusted Airline (Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria)

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SOURCE WESTJET, an Alberta Partnership

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