An airline that boasts “ultra low fares” is now offering service between the London International Airport and three Canadian cities.
As part of its full summer schedule, Swoop announced Tuesday morning it would be flying daily to and from Abbotsford and Edmonton, and six times a week to and from Halifax.
The flights will use a 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft. A one-way ticket to Edmonton starts at $139, with service starting April 28. A one-way ticket starts at $139 for Halifax and $159 for Abbotsford, with service starting May 24.
Despite starting partway into the year, London International Airport CEO Mike Seabrook projects the new service will increase the number of passengers in 2019 to between 750,000 and 800,000.
“It’s significant growth for us,” said Seabrook. The airport served 536,000 passengers last year.
WATCH: Swoop adding Las Vegas and Phoenix destinations to and from Edmonton
“We’ve long held that London has tremendous potential for air service. We have people that drive to Toronto and Detroit to start their journey, and if we can add services here with good fares, we can get those people to leave from our airport.”
Airports make proposals to get carrier service. Now that they’ve inked a deal with Swoop, Seabrook wants to work together to identify destinations in the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico.
Swoop, which is WestJet’s budget airline, kicked off service in Canada last June, with services in Ontario based out of Hamilton.
“They grew the destinations in Hamilton over the past six months. They’ve got out of Hamilton places like Vegas, and Phoenix, and several destinations in Florida and Mexico and the Caribbean,” said Seabrook.
“We hope we’re on a similar path.”
Seabrooks adds that Swoop’s addition to the London International Airport allows it to reduce its airport improvement fees from $15 to $7.