After missing a large number of Canadian travelers in the fall of 2020 and the start of 2021, it looks like more will be on the way to Phoenix this upcoming tourist season.
Canada-based airlines have started announcing their fall schedules and nonstop flights to Phoenix are back on the books.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, flights to Canada from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport were put on hold. Some flights slowly started coming back with WestJet offering a daily direct flight from Sky Harbor to Calgary and Air Canada operating one flight a week between Vancouver and Phoenix. But things will start looking more normal come this fall.
Canada has had much more strict restrictions on travel than the United States because of COVID-19, considering the country had initially lagged behind the U.S. in vaccinations until recently. As of July, some of those restrictions will be loosened only for fully vaccinated Canadians, and are expected to continue to be lowered later this year for other travelers.
This week, ultra-low-cost Canadian carrier Swoop announced it would restart its flights between the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in the Southeast Valley in September.
WestJet is set to start its nonstop service between Calgary and the Mesa Gateway Airport on Oct. 31, but starting Nov. 15 it will do two flights a week from that airport.
Air Canada has published its schedule through Sept. 19. It will continue to operate a flight between Phoenix and Vancouver and starting on Sept. 11 it will resume its direct service to Toronto from Sky Harbor, which will operate twice a week.
