In 2024, WestJet announced it was modifying its service level in Lethbridge, Alta., to a single flight per day, albeit with a larger aircraft.
The airline carrier, Lethbridge’s sole provider, said at the time that the new model of airplane would be more reliable and, as a result, service quality would improve.
On Thursday, Lethbridge Airport’s manager, Cameron Prince, updated city council members during the economic and finance standing policy committee about the state of air travel in Lethbridge.
“Since WestJet has made that change, passenger traffic has remained fairly steady. I think we’re seeing a much better reliability rate, though. Planes aren’t being cancelled as often or there aren’t as many delays,” Prince said.
Since the City of Lethbridge took over operations of the airport, the highest ridership in a calendar year came in 2019 with around 100,000 travellers. The departure of Air Canada and the COVID-19 pandemic cut traffic to the airport, and it hasn’t fully bounced back.
In 2024, fewer than 40,000 people took advantage of commercial flights in Lethbridge.
“As the community starts to see that (quality) is improving, we’ll start to see that ridership come up, but as of right now, it’s stayed fairly steady,” Prince said.
He says growth is required to convince WestJet to bring additional routes to southern Alberta, or even attract other carriers to the market.
“If people aren’t using the flight, it’s not going to grow…. That being said, we’re always in discussions with WestJet and other air carriers as well,” Prince said.
He says the airport is more than just a commercial hub, as medevac, a flight school, private flights and more operate out of the south Lethbridge terminal. However, the commercial aspect is what will impact most people, and Prince says the airport is constantly working with local groups like the chamber of commerce, Tourism Lethbridge, post-secondary institutions and more to ensure needs can be met.
“Basically anyone who has a voice to say how things go in Lethbridge, we’re trying to get them involved because tourism is a key piece as well. We need tourism, we need business travel, people visiting friends and family. When they decide to go, they need to choose air travel in order to build that service.”
He says the airport is hoping to identify and secure more routes while becoming a self-sustaining airport in the process.
“The piece that we’re really working on right now is gathering data…. We need to know how many people from Lethbridge are travelling and how many people are travelling by the highway that could have flown out of Lethbridge. This is the information that airlines need to see before adding on another flight.”
In 2023, just over 40,000 people travelled by air in Lethbridge, up by around 10,000 the year before, according to City of Lethbridge statistics.