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Swoop Airlines is ready for takeoff from the Regina airport.
Bert van der Stege, the head of commercial finances for Swoop, was pleased the airline had added Regina to its list of stops.
“We are very excited to be here and adding Regina to our growing list of destinations gives me great pleasure …,” he said during a media conference Thursday.
“There is tremendous demand to reconnect with family and friends and explore the world and the timing is perfect and we are happy to be here.”
Today we welcome @FlySwoop to YQR✈️ Now offering twice weekly service to and from YQR to Toronto, Edmonton and Winnipeg. Welcome to Regina, Swoop💖 pic.twitter.com/ba0mmCdcxF
— YQR – Regina International Airport (@FlyYQR) June 16, 2022
James Bogusz, the CEO of the Regina Airport Authority, said Swoop will have a cheaper price point for flights. One-way plane tickets will cost $49.
“Swoop is an ultra low-cost carrier. They’re offering a competitive product to WestJet and Air Canada,” said Bogusz. “We all know with the price of travel going up, (so) now is the time to have more competition in the market.
“With the other news and the vaccine mandate being removed as of (Monday), we’re going to see a big uptake in travel. So the timing for these domestic flights is absolutely perfect, and we welcome them to their city.”
Vaccine mandates for domestic flights will be lifted Monday, but international flights will still require proof of vaccination. Bogusz says mandates have discouraged 20 per cent of travellers.
“We have been working with our federal government and partners for months to encourage them to reduce these travel mandates,” he said. “The current one that’s still in place that is incredibly problematic is the full vaccination at the border to enter the country.”
Swoop — which is owned by WestJet — will have direct flights twice a week to Edmonton, Toronto and Winnipeg.
“What this offers is an additional capacity on popular routes that people are actually travelling,” said Bogusz. “Toronto, for example, being the biggest airport in the country and the biggest city, this is a very popular destination already.
“What (Swoop) is offering is a competitive price point, and the opportunity to have people buy a different product in the aviation market.”
The pandemic slowed flights at airport. Bogus said Regina typically had 3,400 passenger departures and arrivals daily, which equated to 1.2 million passengers per year prior to the pandemic. Last year, the airport had 350,000 passengers in total.
Bogusz hopes for more travellers at the airport with Swoop. Flights are already being booked in a larger capacity.
“We would love to have them all on the market, but the reality is that we are just now recovering,” he said. “We are not nearly at pre-pandemic levels yet, and we want to make sure that this new capacity is absorbed and is popular so these airlines stay. We don’t want them to come and go.”
Swoop comes in after Flair Airlines cancelled its service in Regina earlier this month.