This Arizona airport is losing some international flights. What travelers should know

Next winter, there will be fewer flights from metro Phoenix to the Great White North.

WestJet and its low-cost subsidiary Swoop airline will not return for seasonal flights to Canada from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport for the 2023-24 season, the airport's executive director J. Brian O'Neill said in his monthly report.

A third Canadian carrier, Flair Airlines, previously announced it would move its Phoenix-Canada flight operations from the east Mesa airport to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

O'Neill said airport staff "wishes all three Canadian airlines the very best of luck and will happily welcome them back should they chose to return to Gateway Airport at a later date."

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Why is Mesa Gateway Airport losing flights to Canada?

O'Neill's report said WestJet and Swoop had told airport staff that their flights out of Gateway were "pretty full" but the airlines couldn't get the fares needed for the routes to be profitable. WestJet flew nonstop to Calgary, Alberta; Swoop flew nonstop to Edmonton, Alberta, and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

WestJet spokeswoman Julia Kaiser said in a statement that the airline will continue to provide service from Phoenix via Sky Harbor Airport and apologized for the impact that ending seasonal service at Mesa Gateway Airport would have on customers.

"The decision to remove service is extremely difficult and never taken lightly," she said. "Unfortunately, service to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport was not performing to expectation."

Flair told airport staff it was a challenge to fill seats out of Mesa Gateway, O'Neill said in his report. The ultra-low-cost carrier said in March that repositioning from Mesa Gateway to Sky Harbor in 2023-24 is part of a strategy to increase flight frequency on popular routes and expand service to warm weather destinations for Canadian snowbirds.

O'Neill's report noted that Flair had tried this strategy in Los Angeles. It previously operated flights out of Hollywood Burbank Airport but had "much better success" when those flights were relocated to Los Angeles International Airport, he said.

Gateway Airport spokesman Ryan Smith added that increased competition and the ongoing pilot shortage are forcing airlines to consider where they could best deploy their operations.

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What does losing these flights mean for Mesa Gateway?

Flights to Canada drew 75,353 passengers at Mesa Gateway from July 2022 to March 2023, up from about 34,000 passengers during the same period in the 2021-22 fiscal year and in 2018-19 before the COVID-19 pandemic, airport data showed.

Although the loss is unfortunate, Smith said, the Canadian flights made up a small percentage of airport traffic.

Mesa Gateway, which is in the middle of a terminal expansion project, still expects to attract a high number of passengers in the months ahead because of its year-round domestic service from Allegiant Air. The Las Vegas-based carrier draws the vast majority of Mesa Gateway's traffic, amounting to 1.3 million passengers in 2022-23 to date.

Will Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport add Canada flights in the future?

It's too early to say, but airport officials hope so. Officials continue to speak with airlines about the benefits of flying into Mesa Gateway.

Smith cited the airport's low operating costs and convenience to passengers in the East Valley as positive features that could "lead to the return of some service or growth from other carriers."

Reach the reporter at Michael.Salerno@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salerno_phx.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport loses 2 more Canadian airlines