CALGARY — For the first time in its history, Swoop has transported over 10,000 travellers in a single day.

The milestone was reached on Jan. 1, 2023, the ultra-low-cost airline’s single-largest travel day during which 64 flights were operated, carrying 10,268 passengers. On this day, Swoop flew 37 flights across Canada, 14 to the United States, and 13 to sun destinations across Mexico and the Caribbean.

“We are incredibly proud of this accomplishment and grateful to our team of Swoopsters and all our travellers for helping us reach this milestone,” said Bob Cummings, President of Swoop. “This past year posed unprecedented challenges for the entire aviation industry, but our airline expanded to reach new heights and so we’re thrilled to kick off 2023 with a signal of that growth.”

Cummings added that this holiday season was “undeniably the most difficult” the airline has faced in its five-year history, with storms reported across British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.

“We sincerely thank all travellers for their patience and understanding as we recovered, and are proud to share that we have successfully operated 96.5% of scheduled flights since Dec. 23 when the cold weather and storms subsided.”

This past year, Swoop experienced rapid growth, with significant network expansions into Abbotsford, Hamilton, London, Toronto and across eastern Canada, supported by a fleet increase of 60%. In 2023, which marks the carrier’s fifth year of service, Swoop will operate over 100 flights per week to 13 vacation destinations, with Swoop flights available through WestJet Vacations’ all-inclusive packages as well as through Swoop Getaways.