WestJet CEO says it’s ‘fundamentally wrong’ to treat air travel as a luxury

CALGARY — The chief executive of WestJet Group says the federal government should not treat air travel as a luxury in a country as vast as Canada and reducing costs to the industry would help foster national unity.

In a speech to a Calgary business audience, Alexis von Hoensbroech questioned why transport infrastructure like bridges, passenger rail and ferries get federal support, while the government imposes a host of costs on the airline industry that are then passed along to consumers.

“We need to build Canada — now even more than in the past — and aviation plays a key role” he said Tuesday.

Von Hoensbroech quipped that his address had to compete for attention with the throne speech delivered on the same day by King Charles in Ottawa, which set out the Liberal government’s legislative agenda.

“But the King actually said today, ‘The government is guided by conviction that the economy is only truly strong when it serves everyone’ and many, many Canadians are struggling to get ahead,” von Hoensbroech said.

His presentation included a slide comparing government-imposed costs in Canada versus the United States. In Canada, sales tax, navigation fees, airport improvement fees and security fees amounted to $133 in a round-trip ticket price, whereas south of the border the excise tax and segment fee, passenger facility charge and security fee added up to $49.

He said it’s “fundamentally wrong” that air travel is not treated as essential in a country where it’s the only connection to the outside world in many communities.

“If the government wants to unite Canada and take down internal trade barriers, then reducing the cost of air travel by reducing fees that are imposed on air travel and ultimately make tickets cheaper would be the right thing to do,” von Hoensbroech told reporters.

“Right now, there are millions of Canadians that cannot afford an air ticket, and a lot of this is because of the infrastructure costs and fees and charges are so high, and so much higher than in most other countries.”

Von Hoensbroech’s remarks follow calls from several business leaders in recent months to reduce internal trade barriers and expand Canada’s international reach as the U.S. becomes an increasingly unreliable trading partner.

In a backlash against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and expressed desire to make Canada the “51st state” and treatment of marginalized groups, many Canadians have cancelled trips and booked flights to spots outside America over the past five months.

The WestJet CEO said bookings into the next couple of months suggest Canadians’ cross-border travel on the airline is down in the “mid-to-high-teens percentage points” compared to last year, but that traffic is shifting to Europe and the Caribbean.

Rival airline Air Canada said in an email Monday it will suspend three more U.S.-Canada routes — Toronto-Indianapolis, Montreal-Detroit and Montreal-Minneapolis — starting this fall for “commercial” reasons.

The cuts come after the country’s largest carrier in March reduced flights by 10 per cent to Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona — usually go-to hot spots during spring break season. Competitors Flair Airlines and Air Transat have made similar moves.

Last month, the number of Canadians returning home by air from the United States dropped 20 per cent compared with April 2024, according to Statistics Canada. The number of American plane visitors to Canada fell 5.5 per cent.

Trump has in recent weeks tamped down his Canadian annexation talk and he seemed to strike a genial tone during an Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier this month.

Von Hoensbroech said his airline is already seeing signs the U.S. market is picking up a bit.

“What we have seen in the past in our industry is that whenever there’s a change in demand patterns for political reasons, it’s usually transitional and long-term demand trends usually flow back to where they were in the past,” he said.

“Whether this is going to happen and when this is going to happen remains to be seen. But we assume that ultimately this will be over and people will continue to come to the U.S.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.

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— With files from Christopher Reynolds in Montreal

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press