Westjet pulls back from LGW.......

[tailgunner]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/we ... -1.4131987

Not a good first crack at being one of the top international carriers...
Somebody should be replaced after this fiasco. I nominate GS.
Have a great Day

[Blue42]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/we ... -1.4131987

Not a good first crack at being one of the top international carriers...
Somebody should be replaced after this fiasco. I nominate GS.
Have a great Day

Old news announced last year, good job CBC.....

[aerobod]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/we ... -1.4131987

Not a good first crack at being one of the top international carriers...
Somebody should be replaced after this fiasco. I nominate GS.
Have a great Day

The frequency during the peak summer season is the same on the 767s (21 flights per week each way), the service from Edmonton and Winnipeg only operates to the end of Aug, but then the Calgary and Vancouver flights increase by one each, going to 20 flights each way each week. Basically 1 767 flight each week less than last summer at the end of peak season. Not much to be worried over. Also, the 767s were only posted by Gregg to be an experiment, one that has shown the potential that has led to the 787 order.

[altiplano]

aerobod:
However you want to spin it the westjet spokesperson said they can't handle irops and are decreasing service...

"We have revisited the utilization of our fleet for the summer 2017 flying," spokesperson Lauren Stewart said in a statement. "Decreasing the total number of weekly flights to LGW from across Canada so that we can more quickly recover in the event we have any unforeseen delays or cancellations."

Looks like they are already having problems this year...

Westjet cancelled a total of three flights in and out of London in mid-May. Steel said Air Canada and British Airways were both flying out of Calgary to London's Heathrow airport, but WestJet wouldn't book her father on a competitor's flight.

I'm just an industry observer, but I thought their utilization was suspect from the outset, beyond best case... glad to see they are checking back.

[aerobod]

aerobod:
However you want to spin it the westjet spokesperson said they can't handle irops and are decreasing service...

"We have revisited the utilization of our fleet for the summer 2017 flying," spokesperson Lauren Stewart said in a statement. "Decreasing the total number of weekly flights to LGW from across Canada so that we can more quickly recover in the event we have any unforeseen delays or cancellations."

Lauren is correct, but the data shows this is a small cutback, for the nominal summer months:

June 2016 Weekly Frequency
YYC LGW YYC - 5
YYZ LGW YYZ - 7
YVR LGW YVR - 6
YEG LGW YEG - 2
YWG LGW YWG - 1
TOTAL LGW Return flights - 21

June 2017 Weekly Frequency
YYC LGW YYC - 6
YYZ LGW YYZ - 7
YVR LGW YVR - 6
YEG LGW YEG - 0
YWG LGW YWG - 0
TOTAL LGW Return flights - 19

July 2016 Weekly Frequency
YYC LGW YYC - 5
YYZ LGW YYZ - 7
YVR LGW YVR - 6
YEG LGW YEG - 2
YWG LGW YWG - 1
TOTAL LGW Return flights - 21

July 2017 Weekly Frequency
YYC LGW YYC - 5
YYZ LGW YYZ - 7
YVR LGW YVR - 6
YEG LGW YEG - 2
YWG LGW YWG - 1
TOTAL LGW Return flights - 21

Aug 2016 Weekly Frequency
YYC LGW YYC - 5
YYZ LGW YYZ - 7
YVR LGW YVR - 6
YEG LGW YEG - 2
YWG LGW YWG - 1
TOTAL LGW Return flights - 21

Aug 2017 Weekly Frequency
YYC LGW YYC - 5
YYZ LGW YYZ - 7
YVR LGW YVR - 6
YEG LGW YEG - 2
YWG LGW YWG - 1
TOTAL LGW Return flights - 21

Sept 2016 Weekly Frequency
YYC LGW YYC - 5
YYZ LGW YYZ - 7
YVR LGW YVR - 6
YEG LGW YEG - 2
YWG LGW YWG - 1
TOTAL LGW Return flights - 21

Sept 2017 Weekly Frequency
YYC LGW YYC - 6
YYZ LGW YYZ - 7
YVR LGW YVR - 7
YEG LGW YEG - 0
YWG LGW YWG - 0
TOTAL LGW Return flights - 20

So not much to see here, over the 4 months from June to Sept, total seats available will be less than 4% lower than last year. Hardly the material for a "disaster" scenario, but the plan is for a bit more flexibility in the schedule for better IROP recovery. Unfortunately quantitative facts are not nearly as sensationalistic as statements without quantification, hence less likely to be used by the press.

[altiplano]

Splash around all the data you like... say it however you like... it still shows, "Lauren" says, and the fact is...

they can't handle irops and are decreasing service...

Sure are showing everyone how it's done...

[aerobod]

Splash around all the data you like... say it however you like... it still shows, "Lauren" says, and the fact is...

they can't handle irops and are decreasing service...

Sure are showing everyone how it's done...

Continuous improvement is the name of the game, the aim at WestJet is always to do better (the ontime statistics for LGW have improved significantly from last year but still have a long way to go). Some people are natural pessermists and will steer a negative destiny which will become a self fulfilling prophesy, you won't find many of those people at WestJet and that is one reason for it's long term success.

[Realitychex]

Reposted from elsewhere and says it all:



This is old news, announced and previously reported in January 2017.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/ ... -1.3923588

Crapping on airlines, be it WJ, AC, Sunwing or today, Transat, even if it means rehashing a story they reported 5 months ago, is the CBC's latest gasp at click bait. Everyone has an "airline horror story" so why not stoke the fire periodically to create a non-news event?

Here's the CBC's latest: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/flair-n ... -1.4096090

So, to recap:

YWG-LGW operates weekly during peak summer June 24 thru Aug 26th.
YEG-LGW operates 2x weekly during peak summer June 24 through Aug 26th.
YYC-LGW operates 5x weekly during the period.
YYZ-LGW operates daily during the period.
YYZ-LGW operates 6x weekly during the period.

The 737 TATL operation to DUB, GLA and LGW from YYT, YHZ and YYT respectively is all daily and business as usual. No changes YOY.

This is exactly what was announced in early January 2017, and the same 767 schedule operated during this time frame as in the summer of 2016. There is nothing new here.

Ask any WJ'r about their chances of getting a standby seat to or from LGW in the summer. They'll giggle uncontrollably. I am consistently told the TATL are the hardest seats to nab in the entire network.

Then again, WJ wouldn't have ordered 10 787's if TATL loads were as light as some people would like to think they are, nor would network loads be where they were if those TATL ASM generating machines weren't generating RPM's. It would instantly show up in their monthly L/F stats.

Anyone who's been observing WJ's 767 otp this spring / summer season will note that, at least thus far, it is dramatically improved over last summer's underwhelming performance. It would appear they've added to block times to ensure that flights are arriving pretty close to schedule . I could care less when I leave. What matters most is "when do I arrive"?

I'm sure someone will dig out an example where this didn't occur, but I'm also pretty sure you'd find the same at other airlines any given day operating Canada to Europe with 20+ year old equipment.

Move along now. There's nothing new here to gawk and pontificate upon.

[eliteair]

WestJet announced they were reducing their 767 London service back in January.
The CBC article makes it seems like it just happened.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/busine ... 37355.html

Despite the issues this month, reliability seems to be way up from last year.
I agree that their schedule is overly aggressive but it seems like this CBC article is twisting the story like they have something against WestJet.

[flyer 1492]

Could the reduced schedule be because WJ doesn't have the backup with the 767 from Boeing? Or did common sense finally prevail?.

Flyer

[JTrain]

Could the reduced schedule be because WJ doesn't have the backup with the 767 from Boeing? Or did common sense finally prevail?.

Flyer

19-20 LGW flights per week with four B767s isn't an overly aggressive schedule. Even 21, which is what they had last year, left one aircraft as a spare each night. Stuff happens though - they've gotten a much better handle on maintenance, and cutting the YEG and YWG departures actually makes sense as it will keep the 767s rotating between the big maintenance capable stations and LGW, which should in turn minimize the maintenance factor as it will eliminate road trips.

[eliteair]

20+ year old aircraft that were out of service sitting in a desert
Issues during the refurbishing process that caused delivery delays
First time ever operating wide-bodies
Several maintenance issues during initial service doing domestic and flights to Hawaii.
Limited crew
B-check required maintenance schedule that takes away your spare aircraft
High UK mandatory compensation fees for delayed and cancelled flights per passenger

With the amount of times WestJet had to charter aircrafts from Omni and other companies, it should have told them that their schedule was too aggressive.

All of these factors equals a very aggressive schedule in your first venture into wide-body transatlantic service.
They should have just focused on flights from Calgary and Toronto then slowly expand to other cities.

And remember, WestJet's 767 was just supposed to be an experiment.