More Saskatchewan travellers pushed to airlines as gas prices remain steady

Saskatchewan travel agents and airports have said travel is increasing across the province and residents are eager to enjoy their summer.

“People are anxious after three years of not going anywhere. They are ready, they want to go,” said travel agent Carrie Hiebert. “They are excited, they are apprehensive because, you know, there are mixed emotions, not going for a few years.”

Hiebert said some are still worried about flight delays and airfares.

“Lots of people are looking at winter bookings and lots are looking at 2024 and 2025.”

Hibert mentioned that road trips throughout Canada are popular as well for those that can’t get on a plane.

“Especially visiting families and camping at our hotspots, especially in our backyard,” Hiebert said. “There are some places you can’t drive to or travel; it depends what you are looking at for a holiday.”

According to Gas Buddy Canada, wholesale price of gasoline “touched its highest level since April, and the price of oil has touched $79/bbl, also the highest since April.”

The extreme heat has lead to some refinery outages, with inventory levels at their lowest since 2015.

“Everything has gone up including the cost of fuel, meals, accommodation, so you are going to deal with those prices if you are driving versus flying,” Hiebert said.

With more people being pushed towards airlines, the Regina Airport Authority is seeing some of their highest capacity ever.

“There has been a big increase in capacity from the airlines,” said Justin Reves, representing Regina’s airport. “We are seeing the biggest amounts of planes and seats coming into the market and what that has meant fairly reasonable prices in the last year. Demand is higher than there are seats in the market.”

He said that one-way fares to places like Calgary and Edmonton can usually be found for around $150 and flights to Toronto are hovering under $200.

“Those were perhaps two to three times to four times more money last summer than they were this summer.”

Reves said that prices this summer have almost reached pre-pandemic levels.

“We can’t always say why people are flying everywhere but with good pricing, we are seeing really full planes,” Reves said.

According to Uniglobe Travel, the average airfare for anyone departing between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2022, was about $30 lower than it is during the same months in 2023.

“It’s fairly similar in pricing, about $1,000 versus about $970 last year. So, it’s a slight increase but not quite as big as we were seeing when we looked at the first half of the year,” Uniglobe president Jamie Milton said earlier in July.

During the first six months of 2022, compared with the same months in 2023, prices increased by about $150. The data comes from a combination of all local air data, including domestic and international travel.

WestJet is currently the most prominent airline at Saskatchewan airports, after Air Canada, Sunwing and Flair either cancelled routes or abandoned the province’s runways entirely.

WestJet has absorbed Sunwing’s operations and aircraft and Flair and Air Canada both cancelled their routes to Calgary.

Despite the departing airlines, Justin Reves with Regina Airport Authority said they are seeing the most capacity they ever have before.

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