With its live in-flight TV, perky flight attendants and a collection of leather seats throughout passenger cabins, WestJet Airlines Ltd. has carved itself a lucrative niche in Canada's domestic airline industry.
The Calgary company has lost money in just one year — 2004 — since it began selling stock to the public in 1999. Last year WestJet boosted its yield, or average fare for flying a passenger one mile, 12 per cent. It also filled an average 74.7 per cent of seats on its planes, up from 67.5 per cent a year earlier.
With WestJet filling planes on its domestic routes, its prospective plans for routes to Europe are drawing more scrutiny.
Some financial analysts think the low-cost airline may be just months away from announcing new trans-Atlantic routes to England. Speculation has grown in recent days, after rival Air Canada announced last week that it would abandon its route between St. John's, Nfld., and London.
Some industry analysts are wondering whether Newfoundland's capital city will offer WestJet incentives to use its airport as a hub for flights to Europe. WestJet recently reached an agreement with the provincial government in Price Edward Island to start a Toronto-Charlottetown route. The government guaranteed that if WestJet failed to reach certain financial thresholds, the carrier would be paid up to $300,000 to cover the difference.
Some analysts suspect the airline is holding talks with Newfoundland's government in a bid to reach a similar accord.
"It's definitely something they're looking at," said an analyst who covers WestJet but isn't allowed to comment on it in the press.
Summer travel between Canada and Europe is thriving. Demand is outstripping supply and traffic levels for trans-Atlantic flights have returned to pre-2001 levels. That increased traffic may be spurring WestJet's interest.
Cameron Doerksen, an airline analyst with Versant Partners in Montreal, said WestJet's fleet of 737-800s, equipped with twin engines with fuel-saving "winglets," would likely be adequate for lengthy overseas flights. The planes already are being used for WestJet's Vancouver-Honolulu route, which is about 300 nautical miles longer than St. John's-London.
However, WestJet faces a number of vexing questions.
For starters, it's unclear what English airport the carrier could use.
Jacques Kavafian, an airline analyst with Research Capital Corp. in Toronto, said WestJet's best option in England would probably be London Stansted Airport. It's about 50 kilometres northeast of London, has a single runway and acts as a hub for a number of major European low-cost airlines.
Stansted also has a liability, Kavafian said — poor connections to the rest of Europe.
"Air Canada's flight to Heathrow allows connections anywhere in Europe," Kavafian said. "Without the ability to make connections, it's unlikely that enough people would fly WestJet."
Ticketing is another obstacle.
When a passenger books a flight on Air Canada from Toronto to a destination such as Nairobi via London Heathrow, Air Canada can issue a ticket Toronto-Nairobi and "have enough interlining agreements in place to get your bags seamlessly connected," Kavafian said.
"Good luck in having WestJet issue you a ticket beyond London."
Why do you think they would fly from Saint John New Brunswick ?
Maybe you ment YYT St John's Newfoundland?
Just wondering
Guess you stick to western flying
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Last edited by hind sight on Fri May 26, 2006 3:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
hind sight wrote:Why do you think they would fly from Saint John New Brunswick ?
Maybe you ment YYT St John's Newfoundland?
Just wondering
Guess you stick to western flying
I was thinking YYT would be the jump-off point as well.
I think that WestJet would do well but only if they get a Heathrow slot. Another thing to remember you probley would want an alliance for pax to connect. Is there any talks of entering Oneworld or anything like that? Lets face it you getting big enough for that, or is that against the mold. In this era I think it is time to be discussed. I know A/C pays a hefty sum to be a part of Star but I imagine it's worth internationally.
yes, but for me, i know that if i could get oneworld points of somesort on westjet, I would NEVER fly AC again. If i am representative of even a small majority of WJ domestic customers, then i think a membership in OneWorld would be a very lucrative investment once WJ starts flying overseas.
Clive has said in public statements that getting prepared to join an alliance of some sort is in the works. OneWorld is the likely candidate as they are keen to get back in to Canada post demise of Canadian. BA has added flights to existing destinations in Canada and new destinations are in the works. Westjet will benefit from this and soon customers in Canada will have another choice for worldwide travel. Many people back home complain about AC/Star as the only option. Cathay Pacific voted the best airline in the world while BA wins top Euro/Trans Atlantic. Westjet would be a great addition.
Clive has said in public statements that getting prepared to join an alliance of some sort is in the works. OneWorld is the likely candidate as they are keen to get back in to Canada post demise of Canadian. BA has added flights to existing destinations in Canada and new destinations are in the works. Westjet will benefit from this and soon customers in Canada will have another choice for worldwide travel. Many people back home complain about AC/Star as the only option. Cathay Pacific voted the best airline in the world while BA wins top Euro/Trans Atlantic. Westjet would be a great addition.
Only a matter of time......
Can't say I disagree with you.. I also wonder if any future alliances or partnerships will be different than your traditional codeshare/alliance?
Things are always changing. WJ is not a full service carrier. That being said they are not really a discount carrier either. They are a good airline, with a damn good product and have a very good cost base. Having flown on numerous 'Low Cost' airlines worldwide they are not in the same league as your Ryan Air's etc. OneWorld needs connections in Canada as its a growing market. Many customers that BA/CX/AA drop off in Canada are forced to connect to Air Canada. This does not benfit the OneWorld alliance or the customer as it means monoply on many routes.
The arrogance of some at AC and the dis-belief that competition is returning is funny to watch. This is not only coming from WJ but carriers that are much stronger than AC itself, wanting to grow in the Canadian market. I, as do family and friends back home look forward to this all unfolding.....
Tony. As an employee might be a good idea to not only keep an eye on your CEO selling the furniture, but also the competition jumping the fence into your back yard.
Ok pal, I'll start worrying now cause you say so. By the way, the furniture was never sold. It's still in the house. Good luck with your hopes and wishes. I'm going off to work and have some fun in Europe now.
Lets face it, you can't blame Tony for being loyal to his team. However, if WJ does decide to enter into an agreement will that mean different config's on aircraft? If you pay for a business class ticket on someone else an then get offered pingles on Westjet you have to admit you'd be pretty sour. Is it possible to dedicate a couple of aircraft to doing just Europe? How would it work? Would like to hear WJ700's take on this. Since to pull out of Air Canada's 860 out of YYT the City of St. John's has told all staff not to fly on A/C. Not sure if their protest is going to work though.
Tony my man. Have fun in Europe as its great. I kinda know cuz I live there. Oh and that picture you put next to your name to impress the chicks is wicked. I flew one of those in my 20's but graduated to its bigger cousin a while back. You will get your chance soon enough.
Competition is a good thing and if WJ aligns with some big foreign carriers it only means 2 things. Good for the consumer. Bad for AC. AC makes a profit yet has no operating profit. Hmm. Garage sale if you ask anyone with accounting 101 under their belt.
Lets face it, you can't blame Tony for being loyal to his team. However, if WJ does decide to enter into an agreement will that mean different config's on aircraft? If you pay for a business class ticket on someone else an then get offered pingles on Westjet you have to admit you'd be pretty sour. Is it possible to dedicate a couple of aircraft to doing just Europe? How would it work? Would like to hear WJ700's take on this. Since to pull out of Air Canada's 860 out of YYT the City of St. John's has told all staff not to fly on A/C. Not sure if their protest is going to work though.
Why change the configuration? I don't know if the business class customer on a lay-flat bed flying internationally would even be interested in the product WJ offers. Why cater to the minority (Business class) when you can cater to the 300-odd (majority) economy class passengers in the back? Those business class passengers can fly another airline (AC) like they probably do now.
That's a very good point. I once read an article that Biddoe said they cater to VFR passengers. Visting Freinds and relatives. Maybe International is too outside the mold?
That's a very good point. I once read an article that Biddoe said they cater to VFR passengers. Visting Freinds and relatives. Maybe International is too outside the mold?
True to a point. Launch routes cater to VFR traffic and grow into routes that attract business customers. Case in point: YVR-YYC. Launched with twice daily (I think) and has grown to around 13 daily. The same can be said of most of our routes across the system. International is much the same but much more complex.
WhiteBeacon wrote:That's a very good point. I once read an article that Biddoe said they cater to VFR passengers. Visting Freinds and relatives. Maybe International is too outside the mold?
Flightpath was a great read!
Now how does an airline take this principal to the globalisation ranks? How does an airline manipulate the redtape regulation? Maybe the math guinness group over at Google could help out?
Reservation system and all is great, however help me out with this point. Most of you will agree that Cathay is one of the supreme legacy carriers. They boast a free parking space for your car on board if you fly executive class. Not slinging dirt here but how do you configure your aircraft for meals and various classes? I can't see the legacy carriers allowing one class. Or will they?
valid point...but you can be damn sure that WJ WILL NOT re-configure their aircraft.
however, at the same time (as mentioned earlier) OneWorld has lost potential revenue due to the fact that Canadian is no longer around.
the most simplest solution to the seat class issue is that if the pax wants to travel J-Class then they can jump on AC and then transfer their own bags and/or terminals.
if they want a seamless transition then the opportunity would be there and they would be forced to sit in a "regular" seat on WJ...i'm sure the alliance partners can adequately figure out a pricing structure to accomodate this method of seat-class transfer.
the fact remains that there are still many Y-Class pax who stand to benefit from the agreement.
WhiteBeacon wrote:Reservation system and all is great, however help me out with this point. Most of you will agree that Cathay is one of the supreme legacy carriers. They boast a free parking space for your car on board if you fly executive class. Not slinging dirt here but how do you configure your aircraft for meals and various classes? I can't see the legacy carriers allowing one class. Or will they?
You are correct if you consider Canada normal. OneWorld has not had a dance partner for what? 5 years? All the connecting business traffic spills to AC that is a given if the customer insists on "J" class. But, if they can interline/connect the back of the bus onto WJ and gain a little more revenue then why wouldn't they?
WJ is in the drivers seat here, Canada has 30+ Million people and OneWorld would realllly like to be able access that market properly.
WJ can hold out until they get the deal they need.
