WestJet bids adieu to San Francisco
Lisa Schmidt, Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2006
WestJet Airlines Ltd. dropped another U.S. route this month, cutting San Francisco from its network after the route failed to attract enough business.
Flights to San Francisco -- one of the first planks in WestJet's U.S. expansion launched in fall 2004 -- ended on Jan. 9, an airline spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday.
"It was not proving to be a profitable route," said Gillian Bentley, noting low interest from U.S. travellers and increased competition from other carriers.
"Even though our numbers weren't bad, the yield was not good."
The change follows other cuts in WestJet's aggressive expansion into the United States, where it flies to mostly sunspots and leisure destinations.
Early on, the airline cut its Toronto-Los Angeles route due to poor ticket sales and pulled out of New York altogether after having difficulty getting additional time slots to compete with other carriers.
The airline has also said it's struggling to attract U.S. travellers, with traffic of Canadian origin representing over 97 per cent of the passengers on transborder flights.
Still, the airline continues to add new destinations, including Las Vegas and Fort Myers, Fla., last fall and Hawaii in December, its first overseas routes.
WestJet is still deciding whether to continue its Calgary-San Diego route, a seasonal service that offered three flights a week last summer. Last month, its much larger rival Air Canada started daily non-stop service to San Diego from Vancouver.
Leslie Gavin, manager of passenger air service development at the Calgary International Airport, said WestJet's changes aren't surprising, since airlines continually switch destinations and frequencies according to market demand.
"They've added service to Florida, they've converted service to Las Vegas," she said.
"They've gone daily on Phoenix, they've added service to Palm Springs. In the final analysis they are still serving the community very well."
While there's opportunity for growth, WestJet faces tough competition on transborder routes from Canadian and U.S. carriers, while American low-cost carriers are looking north of the border, one analyst noted.
Denver-based Frontier Airlines said recently it plans to expand into Canada, although no destinations or timeline has been announced. Observers say Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary would be likely choices.
"In WestJet's case, the lack of brand awareness in the U.S. means the vast majority of passengers flying to and from this market are Canadian," Raymond James analyst Ben Cherniavsky said in a recent report.
In trading Tuesday, WestJet shares rose 12 cents to $12.50 on the Toronto stock exchange.
lschmidt@theherald.canwest.com
© The Calgary Herald 2006
WJ: Another one bite the dust
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