Low-cost airline WestJet will maintain its service between Canada and Bermuda throughout the winter, Premier and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown announced yesterday.

From November 1, WestJet will continue connecting the Island and Toronto with services on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; it will resume a seven-day-a-week service from next May. "We believe that this new service will continue to prove attractive for our visitors from Canada and provide another option for Bermudians seeking to travel abroad," the Premier told the House of Assembly in a Ministerial Statement.

WestJet have been flying daily since May, with Dr. Brown saying it provides competition for Air Canada.

He said WestJet's extended commitment to Bermuda is one of the first times it has ever entered a new island destination with year-round service. "We believe that this new service will continue to prove attractive for our visitors from Canada and provide another option for Bermudians seeking to travel abroad," he said.

Dr. Brown also described last week's Bermuda Night at Fenway Park in Boston as a "resounding success"; and added that hotels are currently sold out thanks to the Newport to Bermuda Yacht race — leaving the Island "busting at the seams with visitors".