How many low cost airlines are there in Canada?

Canada is a big country with provinces and territories. It’s the second largest country in the world. Canadians like to travel and because of limited but far away regions that Canadians live, it needs always use airway to go. Low cost carriers’ history is not old in Canada. But companies growth fast and today some of them are worldwide popular with long flights. Canada airlines sector is also controlling by strong rules and it’s very hard to see any breakdown or other problems in this companies. How many low cost airlines in Canada?


Today lot’s of companies are scheduling low cost flights to or from Canada. But Canadians mainly tend to use their countries’ companies. There are four Canada located low cost airlines companies today as Air Transat, Sunwing, Porter and WestJet.
Air Transat is one of the most popular low cost carriers in Canada. Their headquarters is in Montreal, Quebec. Today it’s possible to see charter flights and scheduled flights in their list. Air Transat flies over 25 destinations. Main route in summer months is Europe. In winter company’s scheduled flights are mostly to USA and Mexico. Company mainly uses Vancouver International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport. They have also services in Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Québec/Jean Lesage International Airport and Calgary International Airport. Company books over 3.5 million passengers per year. Company also schedules charter services from populated cities to holiday regions of Canada.

WestJet is another popular low cost airlines of Canada. They flight to 76 destinations today and main routes are Canada, USA and Caribbean. Company is founded in 1996 and today carries over 4.000 passengers every day. It carried over 15 million passenger in 2010. Company mainly use Boeing 737 Next Generation plane series and operates in Toronto Pearson International Airport and Calgary International Airport. Company has codeshare agreements with important airlines like American Airlines and Japan Airlines. It’s possible to find LiveTV entertainment system in company’s planes and its serving Bell TV satellite network.

Porter Airlines is operating in Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. Company’s main route is from Toronto to some regions. It also flies to USA. Porter Airlines mainly use Bombardier Dash-8 Q 400. It’s a Canadian made turbo featured plane. Some USA cities Porter Airlines goes are Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Detroit and Cleveland. Company also has an agreement with South African Airways so passengers of Porter Airlines may use transfer to Johannesburg and Senegal from Washington-Dulles. Porter Airlines has a popular free ticket system called as ‘VIPorter’. Today it’s one of the most active free ticket point system in Canada.

Sunwing Airlines’ headquarters is in Toronto. They plan mostly scheduled flights but it’s also possible to find charter service. Company mostly creates domestic services for only summer season but it’s possible to find flights to Central America, Mexico, USA and South America for all year. In 2009 company is chosen as “Canada’s largest discount travel retailer”. Main airports Sunwing Airlines is using are Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Vancouver International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport. It also operates in Québec/Jean Lesage International Airport and Calgary International Airport. Also Sunwing Airlines is popular with its complimentary services in flight. A glass of wine and snack are most popular ones. It’s also a big controversial topic that Sunwing Airlines services’ are very problematic or not. It’s possible to find lots of critics and stories about service problems for company but they are one of the fastest growing companies in Canada. Company mainly use Boeing 737-800 and their fleet is the youngest one in Canada.