Calgary-based WestJet says it is going to be introducing a brief $60 surcharge for sure bookings and has consolidated quite a few flights as a consequence of skyrocketing gasoline costs.
The airline stated in an e-mail the extra cost can be included with all bookings made with a companion voucher after this Wednesday.
It has additionally mixed some flights on decrease demand routes, lowering the variety of flights by roughly one per cent in April and three per cent in Could. It stated most purchasers have been supplied lodging choices as a result of consolidations.
“Gasoline is the most important contributor to airline working prices, and a brief surcharge helps us handle the latest surge in gasoline costs … We’ll proceed to evaluate the surcharge and modify as circumstances enable,” a spokesperson stated in an e-mail Sunday.
“Whereas airfares might be adjusted and have higher flexibility in pricing, the character of our companion vouchers doesn’t enable for this similar flexibility.”
Wayne Smith, a hospitality and tourism professor at Toronto Metropolitan College, stated WestJet is amongst a number of Canadian airways which were scrambling to cowl prices because the battle on Iran started and created a gasoline scarcity.
“Folks don’t understand how a lot gasoline a airplane takes,” he stated in a telephone interview.
“It’s not like filling up your automobile. You’re speaking actually hundreds of litres to fly someplace.“
The professor stated, for instance, the price of gasoline for a Boeing 787-9 flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong was about $71,485 in late February.
“In mid-March, it was $110, 171 for that flight. It was up nearly $40,000 only for that flight. In order the value retains going up, the airways actually don’t have a alternative.”
He stated extra surcharges may be coming with different airways and with WestJet’s flight consolidations, travellers may also count on to fly in fuller planes.
“There’s an previous joke within the airline business that’s like, ‘How do you make a billionaire a millionaire? Purchase an airline,’” he stated.
“It is a actually tough enterprise to become profitable. The surcharges and consolidations are pure survival. I wouldn’t be shocked to see some baggage charges rise together with it.“
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed April 5, 2026.
Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press