WestJet has been trimming the edges of its transatlantic map, cutting four Canadian routes flown on its Boeing 737 MAX 8 — and Glasgow has come off worst, losing both of its WestJet links.
The first to go was Halifax–Glasgow, a summer seasonal route the airline launched back in 2015 and ran until the pandemic paused it in 2020 and 2021. It returned in 2022, then disappeared for good after that season. More surprising was the fate of Toronto Pearson–Glasgow: added as a summer seasonal service, it lasted exactly one summer before being axed, leaving Glasgow airport without any WestJet service at all. Travellers heading from Canada to Scotland on WestJet now have to fly into Edinburgh instead, which the airline serves nonstop from Calgary, Toronto and Halifax.
Two more routes were cut after equally brief runs. Halifax–Madrid and Halifax–Copenhagen both launched for the 2026 summer season and were dropped when it ended, with no return planned for 2027. That leaves the Spanish and Danish capitals unserved by WestJet entirely — though Air Canada still flies to both from Toronto and Montréal, so travellers have alternatives.
The cuts leave WestJet with just four UK gateways: London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Edinburgh and Cardiff. What makes the retrenchment interesting is the broader picture. The airline's European operation has actually been growing fast — from 516 departures in 2016 to 1,643 this year — but the shape of that growth has changed. After consolidating its European hub operations in Western Canada in 2023, WestJet shifted to widebody Dreamliner flying from Calgary, and the 737 MAX now accounts for roughly 70% of its European departures, up from around 40-47% in the late 2010s.
For anyone planning a Canada-to-Europe trip, the takeaway is that WestJet's network is increasingly concentrated: Calgary has become the main transatlantic base, secondary cities like Halifax have lost their newer experimental routes, and Glasgow in particular has thinned out dramatically. If you were counting on a direct Halifax–Madrid or Toronto–Glasgow flight, you'll now be looking at connections through another hub or a different carrier. Air Canada remains the fallback for Madrid and Copenhagen, and Edinburgh is WestJet's sole Scottish option. Worth checking schedules before booking, since the airline has shown it will drop a route after a single season if it doesn't perform.
