WestJet ULCC Swoop makes inaugural flight, looks to expand quickly

WestJet ULCC subsidiary Swoop took to the skies June 20 with an early-morning inaugural flight from Hamilton to Abbotsford, marking the next major development in what is an expanding Canadian low-cost airline scene. The carrier’s other initial route links Hamilton to Halifax. On June 25, Edmonton and Winnipeg will be added to the network, and the airline will ramp up to a scheduled 90 weekly departures by mid-August. “Our inaugural journey ... is just beginning,” Swoop president and CEO Steven Greenway said. “We’ll be progressively rolling out new routes and destinations in the coming months and years to come.” Swoop operates 189-seat Boeing 737-800s supplied by its parent WestJet. While the airlines belong to the same family and will soon share a group of pilots under a single, Air Line Pilots Association-negotiated contract, Swoop is operated as a separate entity.<br/>