Sunwing Airlines
Sunwing Airlines Inc, d/b/a Sunwing, was a Canadian low-cost airline headquartered in Toronto, Ontario with its main bases at Montréal–Trudeau International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport. Originally owned by Sunwing Travel Group, from 2023 onwards it was a subsidiary of WestJet, with which it merged on May 28, 2025.
History
Foundation and early years
By 2004, Sunwing Vacations had become the second largest tour operator in Ontario. That year, a former Skyservice employee named Mark Williams approached the CEO of Sunwing Travel Group, Colin Hunter, and asked if he wanted to start an airline.In November 2005, a Boeing 737-800 departing from Toronto to Santiago de Cuba was the airline's inaugural flight. In December 2005, Sunwing flew its first direct flight from Sudbury, Ontario to Varadero, Cuba, making it one of the first international flights directly from the Sudbury Airport.
In November 2006, the company flew its first flight out of Montreal. By 2008, Sunwing had grown to operate in 29 cities.
Development since 2010
In June, 2012, an unnamed individual and Transat A.T. submitted information to the Canadian Transportation Agency that was believed to challenge Sunwing's ability to operate an airline on the grounds of foreign ownership. In November 2012, the CTA announced that Sunwing operated within foreign ownership limits.In 2015, it was announced that Sunwing had finalized a $350 million deal to acquire two Boeing 737-800 and four Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft from Air Lease Corporation. The aircraft were due to be delivered over a four-year period from early 2016. Seneca College and the University of Waterloo launched a partnership with Sunwing in 2016 to form a cadet program which includes flight training and mentoring through Sunwing.
Sunwing joined the Transportation Security Administration's expedited screening program, TSA PreCheck, in January 2017. At that time, the TSA PreCheck program was available at 180 United States airports and works with 30 airlines.
Sunwing received its first Boeing 737 MAX, a 737 MAX 8, on May 25, 2018.
As of 2023, Sunwings offered buy on board service, after previously providing free meals on longer flights.
In March 2023, Canadian Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra approved the takeover of Sunwing and Sunwing Vacations by WestJet with the acquisition completed in May 2023. On June 17, 2023, WestJet announced that they would merge Sunwing with the mainline business - the transition could take up to two years. In May 2024, WestJet announced it would fully incorporate Sunwing's operations in 2025. Sunwing operated its last flight on May 28, 2025, flight WG9078, a return from lease of a Boeing 737 OK-TVV of Smartwings from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Václav Havel Airport Prague.
Destinations
Sunwing offered scheduled and charter services from Canada and the United States to destinations within the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America in the winter months. The most popular destinations included Varadero, Punta Cana, Cancún, and Montego Bay. Its former parent company, the Sunwing Travel Group, is Cuba's largest travel provider internationally, sending over 700,000 vacationers to the destination each year.In Canada, the airline operated several domestic routes, including a daily Toronto to Vancouver flight, as well as maintaining year-round service to its most popular destinations. Other connections included Deer Lake, Gander, and St John's from Toronto. As of summer 2015, the airline operated service to Caribbean destinations from Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Columbus, Houston, Lansing, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Rockford.
During the summer months, the company offered domestic services across Canada. The company also operates seasonal flight services from 23 local Canadian gateways, such as CFB Bagotville, Calgary International Airport, Deer Lake Regional Airport, Edmonton International Airport, Fredericton International Airport, Gander International Airport, Halifax Stanfield International Airport, Hamilton International Airport">Hamilton, Ontario">Hamilton International Airport, Kelowna International Airport, Region of Waterloo International Airport, London International Airport, Greater [Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport], Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport, Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport, Regina International Airport, Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport, St. John's International Airport, Thunder Bay International Airport, Vancouver International Airport, Windsor International Airport, and Winnipeg [James Armstrong Richardson International Airport].
Sunwing flew to the following destinations at the time of its merger with WestJet:
Fleet
Current fleet
At the time of its merger with WestJet, Sunwing operated an all-Boeing 737 fleet composed of the following aircraft listed below. Although they have only 9 aircraft registered with Transport Canada, they state on their website that they have over 40.During the summer, Sunwing regularly sent several of their aircraft over to Europe to operate for the TUI Group and Smartwings during their extremely busy season. The aircraft operated flights all around Europe for the two companies. This was reciprocated during the winter months with TUI and Smartwings leasing out several aircraft to Canada to operate Sunwing routes.
Former fleet
Sunwing formerly also operated the following aircraft types:| Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
| Boeing 767-300ER | 2 | 2012 | 2012 | 300ER series on seasonal lease from EuroAtlantic Airways. |
Accidents and incidents
- On July 25, 2014, a Sunwing Boeing 737-800, flight 772 from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Scarlett Martínez International Airport, was forced to return to Toronto after a passenger made a bomb threat. The plane was escorted by a United States Air Force plane and it landed safely. The passenger was arrested and was said to be mentally ill after being examined by medical personnel. The same flight was delayed again after a passenger fainted.
- On January 5, 2018, a Sunwing Boeing 737-800, which was being taxied with no passengers, struck WestJet Flight 2425, a Boeing 737-800 flight from Cancún International Airport to Toronto Pearson International Airport, while parked and on approach to the gate. Fire crews put out a small fire on the Sunwing aircraft.
- In December 2016, a pilot was removed from the cockpit of a Sunwing flight and charged after it was determined that he was drunk. A police spokesman indicated that it was Sunwing staff that determined the pilot was impaired and implied that his license would be revoked.
- On December 30, 2021, a Sunwing Boeing 737-800 was operating Sunwing Flight 2283, a charter flight from Montréal–Trudeau International Airport to Cancún International Airport. On board the flight a group of influencers started to become unruly on board the flight and began to consume their own alcohol, use electronic cigarettes, with other passengers alleging that drugs were being consumed on the aircraft as well as non-compliance of orders from Transport Canada surrounding mask-wearing due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. In the aftermath of this event, Sunwing canceled the charter flight back to Montreal with other Canadian airlines, Air Transat and flag carrier Air Canada stating that passengers who were on Flight 2283 would be denied boarding. Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau said that Flight 2283 was, "a slap in the face to see people putting themselves, putting their fellow citizens, putting airline workers at risk by being completely irresponsible". Federal Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra and Minister of Public Safety, Marco Mendicino released a joint statement and directing both of their respective departments to investigate the events of Flight 2283.
Trivia
- Sunwing' boarding music consisted of various covers sung by Colin Hunter, the airline's founder.