WestJet will soon offer new service to London, England, the Canadian airline announced June 16.
There is no word as to whether Vancouver will get one of the new routes.
“The Canadian cities we will fly from will be determined over the course of this summer,” said Bob Cummings, WestJet executive vice-president, commercial.
“We will meet with airports across the country to determine the most suitable ones we believe will meet our needs and those of our guests.”
The new routes will go through London Gatwick, rather than the much bigger Heathrow airport.
“Well managed and efficient airports like Gatwick are ideal for low-cost airlines like WestJet,” said Chris Avery, WestJet vice-president, network planning, alliances and corporate development.
“We love Gatwick as a convenient airport with great connectivity to central London and access to other low-cost airlines flying to points in Europe and beyond.”
Cummings called this latest move the next phase in the company’s international strategic plan.
“WestJet is at the right scale to make this step in our evolution,” Cummings said. “Combined with our low-cost approach and renowned people-driven service, we have the network, brand and infrastructure to successfully enter and grow in the wide-body market.
“We look forward to announcing, later this summer, our entire schedule and low-fare approach for the spring of 2016.”
The new routes will not be the company’s first transatlantic flights. The company already offers service to Ireland and Scotland. It will, however, be the company’s first transatlantic flights on its wide-body Boeing 767-300 aircraft.
This latest announcement comes a day after WestJet announced increased frequency on routes to Puerto Vallarta, Palm Springs, Yellowknife and Loreto.
