Saskatchewan Aviation Chronology 2000-
2005 - Feb. 24: As part of a system-wide restructuring, Air Canada announced it was withdrawing its mainline service from Regina and Saskatoon, turning over its daily flights to the two Saskatchewan cities from Toronto to its subsidiary, Air Canada Jazz.
The decision made front-page news, but airport officials pointed out that Air Canada had long since shifted its prairie routes to Jazz, which promised to replace its Dash 8 turboprops with news Bombardier Regional Jet aircraft. As well, it promised to add an additional flight to and from Toronto to each of the Saskatchewan cities.
In all, nine cities lost Air Canada mainline service in addition to Regina and Saskatoon: Charlottetown, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Quebec City, Whitehorse and Thunder Bay.
See "Staff, routes switched to Jazz", The Leader-Post, Feb. 25, 2005 and "Air Canada to cut service from 9 cities", The National Post, Feb. 25, 2005 (See "Air Canada to leave", by Barb Pacholik and Neil Scott, The Leader-Post, Feb. 25, 2005).
2008, September 2 – Skywest, the regional connecter connector arm of Chicago-based United Airlines, began twice-a-day flights between Denver and Saskatoon, using Canada/Bombardier CRJ-50 aircraft. Ten months later, United began similar twice-daily service to Regina. Sources: “Denver connection”, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, 03 September 2008, Page 28 and “United lands in Regina”, Regina Leader-Post, 18 March 2009, Page 25.
2015, November: West Wind Aviation completed arrangement to buy the landplane operations, two hangars and seven aircraft (a Beechcraft King Air 200, a pair of Beechcraft 1900s, and four de Havilland Twin Otters) of La-Ronge-based Osprey Wings. That brought West Wind's fleet to 35. (See Saskatoon StarPhoenix, December 1, 2015.)
2017, Dec. 13: A West Wind Aviation ATR42 aircraft carrying 24 passengers and crew crashed shortly after takeoff from Fond du Lack. Nobody was killed that day, but several people were injured and the crash left a trail of debris at least 80 feet long.One passenger died in hospital several weeks later. C-GWEA was one of five ATR42s in the company's fleet. In the aftermath of this tragedy, Transport Canada suspended West Wind's operating certificate. The suspension still was in place in mid-April when Pat Campling Jr. took over as CEO and president. Campling had been a former owner of Transwest Air when the former was bought by West Wind in 2016. (See "Transwest Air founder takes over top job at West Wind", the Regina Leader-Post, April 14, 2018.) Mid-March saw West Wind lay off 10 first officers — almost 20 per cent of its 52 pilots. The firm's air operation certificate was restored May 8, Transport Canada announced on that day. (See"West Wind cleared to resume flying five months after crash," by Alex MacPherson, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, May 8, 2018.)
2018, April 15 - a late-night fire destroyed a 1940-vintage hangar, offices and several aircraft belonging to Transwest Air at the Prince Albert Airport. No Transwest Air personnel were at the hangar at the time of the fire and all staff were declared safe..See "Fire destroys planes, helicopters, Transwest Air office at Prince Albert airport", Saskatoon StarPhoenix, published to the web on: April 16, 2018.
2023 - 17 February - WestJet announced it would start 737 jet service from Saskatoon to Minneapolis/St. Paul, one of Delta Air Lines' largest hubs, effective June 19. The flight would take place three times a week and would be supported by a provincial government subsidy of up to $2.2 million per year. See " Saskatchewan government subsidizes WestJet Minneapolis flight" Global TV, 17 Feb. 2023 and "WestJet announces Saskatoon to Minneapolis flights', the Regina Leader-Post, Feb. 18, 2023
February 15, 2024 – Toronto-based Porter Airlines announced it would begin daily jet flights (using Embraer 195s) from Pearson International airport to Saskatoon, and return. This marked the first entry of this innovative carrier into Saskatchewan.