Airplanes: What are they good for? Wouldn’t you rather ride to your destination? Uh, yes, but it’s hard to ride across the Atlantic, and that’s why it’s good news to hear that WestJet now plans to offer a fly-your-bike service starting in April of 2023.

Longtime CMGers will remember this was a regular Air Canada offer back before COVID-19 wrecked everything. While you might be able to ship your bike via many airlines’ freight options, Air Canada had a specific program aimed at providing affordable airport-to-airport service across major Canadian airports as well as between Europe and Canada. Pricing varied between destinations, and it wasn’t cheap, but when you compared the price to the uncertainties of shipping your bike by boat, the airline option had many advantages.

Now, WestJet plans to offer a similar service (with the guidance of one of the crew who helped run the program at Air Canada, so they’re starting with experienced help!). Pricing is still to be determined, but expect to pay about $2100 CAD to cross the Atlantic& from Canada& to Europe. Coming the other way will be roughly $3300 CAD. In Canada, you can fly from Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver or Calgary; in Europe, WestJet says it will offer the service from Edinburgh, London, Paris, Barcelona and Rome.

WestJet also says it’s considering offering the service through Los Angeles or Miami, through its cargo jets exclusively. Previously, this wasn’t available through Air Canada, so we will see whether or not WestJet is able to make it happen, but many Canadians would likely be interested in an all-season route from north to south, enabling them to take a few days to play in the sun mid-winter on their motorcycles.

Details on the service are still limited, but we expect to know more in coming weeks as the fly-your-bike deal is supposed to come into effect in April.