Beginning April 28th WestJet’s Saskatoon-Minneapolis service will expand from three times a week to daily through October to accommodate busy summer travel. The Vice President of Business Development & Service Quality at the airport, CJ Duchinski, says it’s not just about Minneapolis as a destination. It’s also Minneapolis as a one-stop connection to the rest of the world. She says, “when you look at Minneapolis, it is one of Delta Airline’s largest hubs and Delta is one of WestJet’s strongest partners. So, for us it’s about that connectivity into major hubs that allow people to get anywhere in the world within one stop of Saskatoon.

To make the Minneapolis connection happen last year, the provincial government offered a revenue guarantee of $2.2 million over three years to WestJet for Saskatoon and $1.5 million for Regina. Duchinski explains that it helped to support the risk around the airline offering a brand new route right out of the pandemic.