WestJet adds Brazil as its 100th destination from Calgary

São Paulo, Brazil, became WestJet’s 100th destination of travel from Calgary, connecting Western Canada with South America directly for the first time, the airline announced Monday.

Prior to this addition, which will be available in November, some flight options would involve a nearly 30-hour flight path with layovers.

As an example from the WestJet flight booking departing Jan. 21, travellers would have to embark on a flight to Vancouver, wait eight hours, then fly to Mexico City, Mexico, wait four hours, to finally reach São Paulo.

With flights already to Asia, Mexico, the United States, and Europe, this move by WestJet, according to CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech, is to keep their wide-body 787 Dreamliner planes in operation during Canada’s winter season.

“There are lots of leisure opportunities we have with our partner, LATAM (airlines), that sits in São Paulo, that we will connect on, that will take people from São Paulo to other destinations all across South America,” he said in an interview with CityNews.

“So, this is very attractive.”

A market attractive enough for business opportunities since, according to von Hoensbroech, there isn’t a single flight between South America and the entire western part of Canada.

“Brazil is a rapidly growing country or a country with a rapidly growing economy, and [São Paulo] is the big business centre of Brazil,” he said.

A big business that may also see benefits to Calgary’s already growing tourist industry, according to Alisha Reynolds, the CEO and president of Tourism Calgary.

“The visitor economy in Calgary contributes $3 billion annually, and we’re on a growth path to double that to $6 billion annually by 2035,” she said.

“We say that air access is the front door to the visitor economy.”

Considering that WestJet alone is responsible for two-thirds of air travellers entering Calgary, according to YYC International Airport CEO and president Chris Dinsdale.

“If you look at Calgary, I mean, Calgary would not be the city it is without WestJet, because it connects it to the world, and Calgary is part of the reason — or a bigger reason why West has been successful,” he said.

“The city has been growing. I mean, that this is feeding into the airline, too.”

The announcement comes just days after it scrapped a new seat configuration that squeezed an extra row on board its 737 Boeing planes after a viral video from aboard an Edmonton flight revealed it left passengers with little legroom.

von Hoensbroech told The Canadian Press he made the final call when the blowback began showing up in surveys and sales figures.

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WATCH: WestJet reverses new seating layout

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Speaking to reporters about the situation on Monday, he says pivoting away from something that doesn’t work is just as important as trying something new.

“Canada is still an expensive place to offer tickets, and that’s where we thought, ‘let’s look at what some other airlines do around the world to support affordable air travel,’ and they do it by spreading the cost of a flight across more seats,” he said.

“So we did something that many other airlines do around the world as well, but we also realized it didn’t land well with Canadians, partly because the flight distance is very long. So we recognize that, we listen and we change.”

The overhaul will likely be completed by year’s end, he said.

Meanwhile, flying three times per week from Calgary into Sao Paulo, the seats are now available for the 11-hour trip, with the first flight scheduled to leave YYC International Airport in November, with seven Dreamliner aircraft on order with Boeing.

But von Hoensbroech is coy about the airline’s future.

“There are lots of ideas that are floating around, and if any of those ideas materialize takes a lot to make flight work. But if anything new materialize you, we will let you know,” he said.

“I mean, we never stop, and we want to continue the momentum that we have seen.”

WestJet, which is headquartered in Calgary, is now in its 30th year of operation, employing over 15,000 across Canada.