Canadian discount airline WestJet to offer new seasonal service to Bradenton-Sarasota
WestJet's twice-weekly seasonal flights to and from Toronto begins in December
MANATEE -- Capitalizing on growing interest from Canadian travelers, Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport has sold a second airline on scheduling regular flights between SRQ and Toronto.
On Dec. 18, Canadian discount carrier WestJet will begin seasonal, twice-weekly flights between the two airports. They join Air Canada as one of two Canadian carriers flying between the Ontario provincial capital and the Bradenton-Sarasota area.
The airport announced the new route Monday morning.
SRQ CEO Fredrick "Rick" Piccolo said airport personnel had been discussing a possible WestJet route with airline officials when they learned last month that the deal was going to happen. The new route is expected to bring about 2,000 travelers a month through SRQ between December and April.
"This shows a continued growth of our Canadian market," Piccolo said.
The airport and the convention and visitors bureaus in Manatee and Sarasota counties assembled an incentive package to help cement the deal. Over the next two years, the airport will give WestJet $125,000 in marketing funds to promote the new route. The visitors bureaus will pay out $100,000.
WestJet, which is based in Calagary, Alberta, will also have its landing fees waived for the first year and will receive a 33-percent discount on terminal fees. That will amount to about $450 for each flight that lands, disembarks, reloads and flies out of SRQ, Piccolo said.
Flights will be priced at $205 Canadian each way. Service is between SRQ and Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
Piccolo said he expects most travellers on the Friday and Monday flights will be short-term vacationers. Canadian residents who own homes in Florida also are expected to take advantage of the new route.
Air Canada began offering daily seasonal flights between the two airports in 2006. Late last year, it expanded its flight schedule to include year-round, twice-weekly flights.
WestJet is the sixth airline to join SRQ's lineup of carriers. Canadian airlines are not the only carriers to announce recent service expansions at SRQ. In mid 2014, United Airlines announced that it would operate daily flights between SRQ and Newark, N.J., February through May.
Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027, or on Twitter@MattAtBradenton.
This story was originally published July 21, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Canadian discount airline WestJet to offer new seasonal service to Bradenton-Sarasota ."