Sunwing Airlines

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 (TSA) 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 (with Sunwing registered as C-GKVV) from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Václav Havel Airport Prague.