Calgary, Toronto, And Montréal See Travel Boost As WestJet Launches New Flights To Latin America With Canada Airline Network Expansion

Published on July 8, 2025

Calgary, Toronto, and Montréal are getting a major winter travel boost as WestJet welcomes new nonstop services to Panama, Mexico, Cuba, and Nicaragua. This new development as part of a broader Canada network development plan is designed to accommodate growing warm-weather vacation demand and provide travelers with more direct, affordable access to key Latin American destinations during high-season winter.

This winter, Calgary, Toronto, and Montréal experience substantial winter travel growth as WestJet launches new nonstop flights to Panama, Mexico, Cuba, and Nicaragua. This growth is part of a network expansion by a Canadian carrier to better serve rising warm-weather holiday travel and provide travellers with more direct, affordable access to popular Latin American winter vacation destinations during winter’s busiest travel period.

WestJet is building up to one of its biggest winter additions to a season as it unveils a raft of new cities and a choice of returning cities for its Winter 2025–2026 travel season. The Canadian LCC will enter new Panamanian, Mexican, Cuban, and Nicaraguan cities as part of its sun holiday market move in Canada.

Its entire network has more than 300 routes—62 of them are sun holidays—WestJet is pushing for greater connectivity and affordability. Vacation deals and its increased schedule will exist alongside and sun lovers throughout Canada will have a choice between travel packages and flight-only as part of its popularity.

WestJet Announces New Sunny Vacation Spots

WestJet will begin flights to five new international cities this winter, all conceived with getaway-starved people itching to escape out of Canada’s cold weather season in their minds. These new routes are:

WestJet will operate four times a week nonstop between Calgary and Panama City, Panama.

From Calgary, Alberta, Canada to Guadalajara, Mexico with two weekly departures

From Calgary, Canada to Tepic, Mexico with a single weekly flight

Montréal to Managua, Nicaragua once a week

Toronto to Havana, Cuba with two weekly flights

These new routes reflect WestJet’s effort to grow into unserved international markets as well as develop key connections into sun holiday destinations. New city pairs like Tepic and Managua reflect WestJet’s aspiration to grow into new tourist sectors with surging Canadian demand.

Additional Routes Provide National Coverage
Along with new cities, WestJet is launching six new international routes to previously served cities, offering more Canadian passengers a direct route to the tropics:

Calgary to Cozumel, Mexico – one weekly flight

From Calgary, AB to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic – One weekly flight

From Vancouver to Liberia, Costa Rica – weekly flight

Montréal – Samaná, República Dominicana – Dos viajes por semana
There will be a single weekly direct flight between Québec City and Montego Bay, Jamaica.

There will only be one weekly direct flight between Québec City and Montego Bay, Jamaica. These networks cover all of Western and Eastern Canada, and passengers can skip a stop and have a direct path to key holiday markets. For instance, Samaná, which could only by reached by a charter brand previously, can now have a direct access path by WestJet’s mainline schedule and hence more easily transport passengers.

Classic Routes Experience a Resurgence

In addition to new routes, WestJet is resuming several popular winter season routes due to demand by Canadian travelers:

WestJet will operate four times weekly Calgary-Mexico City nonstop services, with the route making a permanent change from seasonal to year-round availability. WestJet will operate a single weekly direct Edmonton-Montego Bay, Jamaica winter flight

Québec City to San Andrés, Colombia – One weekly flight

From Toronto to Samaná, República Dominicana – once a week

These returning routes allow Canadians once again to have regular access to their favorite winter getaway places, with improved timing and frequency for their convenience.

Driving Affordability and Choice

WestJet is framing this expansion as a value-based initiative. Keeping prices for flights competitively was key, and as such, the airline held that almost three-quarters of its non-stop routes are lower than their price last year. This change is part of WestJet’s initiative to own the Canadian market for vacation travel as winter reaches its busiest time of year, offering increased destination availability and affordability.

The airline once more focuses on routes providing convenience and affordability, and best suited to retirees, families, and snowbirds in search of warmth on a budget. Canadians will have increased flexibility to fly directly to warm destinations, instead of connecting through American or European main hubs.

Strengthening Global T

WestJet is not merely expanding in Latin America and the Caribbean, but also investing in its international ambitions. The airline will increase frequency between Calgary and Tokyo Narita Airport in Japan. It was previously a three-times-weekly operation and will become a daily flight, a milestone development for WestJet’s transpacific connectivity.

This expansion reinforces a trend by the airline to offer a more muscular long-haul product. By offering additional foreign frequencies, WestJet can offer more price-competitive options than larger global airlines while offering a more comprehensive set of linkages into Asia out of Canada’s transport infrastructure.

Strengthening Latin American Connectivity

WestJet’s new route to Panama City will also reinforce Canada’s air bridge to Central America. This flight offers a direct connection for Canadians to a rapidly growing regional center and access to the rest of Latin America. In a similar vein, Managua and Tepic place smaller-traveled cities into focus and allow Canadians to access cultures and ecosystems in cities that would never have been on their radar before.

These connections allow for growth in demand for eco, cultural, and adventure travel. WestJet is capitalizing on this trend and diversifying its menu of destinations to appeal to a wide spectrum of travelers.

Across the nation Coast to Coast

WestJet’s new winter schedule is welcome news to all travelers across Canada. From Vancouver on Canada’s West Coast through Montréal and Québec City on the East Coast, and even its smaller airports like Thunder Bay, more Canadians can now access sun destinations directly from their own airports without connecting in Toronto or other major hubs.

This decentralized system not only allows shorter travel times, but local airport development of tourism is also made possible. Additions and return routes have made the network more representative and balanced for Canadian travelers.

Booking Opens in Mid-July

WestJet entire Winter 2025–2026 schedule becomes available for sale on July 14, 2025. Passengers searching for seats on latest or seasonal flights are cautioned to book ahead because demand is expected to remain high and supply limited.

Calgary, Toronto, and Montréal are seeing more winter vacation options as WestJet expand their Latin America routes as part of a broader Canada airline initiative to respond to rising demand for warm, inexpensive vacations. This winter, Montréal, Toronto, and Calgary are seeing a travel boom as WestJet is boosting Latin American flights as part of a bigger Canada airline effort to meet surging demand for warm, cheap vacations.