Jean Leloup From Canada, joined Apr 2001, 2106 posts, RR: 24 Reply 1, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 3848 times:
Quoting YYZAME (Thread starter): others doubting them saying that they won't survive the next 10 years.
Who has said that???
I think the future for Westjet will bring more of the same, mostly - and that's not a bad thing. There will continue to be incremental changes such as the experiment with 757's this year, and careful additions of american and caribbean destinations. It seems likely that this south-of-the-border strategy will remain primarily tourist-oriented, which is what seems to work best for them.
As for larger aircraft and international routes, there will always be people hoping for things like that, but honestly I think Westjet simply knows better. They will stay with their strength, which is a reasonably-priced and mostly domestic operation.
For me the two most interesting questions for Westjet in the next few years will be: 1) Whether they will be able to increase a share in business travellers and hurt AC, for example with their new schedule increase in the triangle, and 2) whether they will ever order a smaller plane to serve some thinner routes or slightly smaller cities. If not, they are essentially maxed out as far as domestic cities they can serve, and probably getting to the max in terms of frequencies, as well. I've long thought WS would be a good candidate for the CSeries, but that dream is losing steam.
YVRLTN From Canada, joined Oct 2006, 2084 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 3374 times:
Quoting Jean Leloup (Reply 1): I've long thought WS would be a good candidate for the CSeries, but that dream is losing steam
I think it would be a really good fit to open up smaller markets with direct flights like YWG & YQR, or from big hubs to smaller destinations like YVR - AUS / SAT etc. If Boeing goes with the 797 180+ seats only, then they may not have much option down the road.
Im sure AC do get a lot of pax by offering the connections to communities like YCD and YYF etc, but then again WS's success is because they are NOT like AC. For such markets I do think they could operate codeshares with the likes of Hawkair and Pasco out west for example.
If WS are smart, they will stick to North America, still plenty of room to expand. I have been shot down in flames before, but I still think the 900ER has a place in the fleet for some high capacity routes.
yegbey01 From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 1678 posts, RR: 3 Reply 4, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 3099 times:
WestJet did look at the ERJ's at some point...Not sure why the ended up scrapping that idea!
thenoflyzone From Canada, joined Jan 2001, 1963 posts, RR: 12 Reply 5, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 2864 times:
Quoting Jean Leloup (Reply 1): Whether they will be able to increase a share in business travellers and hurt AC,
Nope. its too late. AC and PD have a strong hold on the infamous triangle. Westjet simply adding a few flights here and there wont do much. They should have done this years ago.
Quoting Jean Leloup (Reply 1): whether they will ever order a smaller plane to serve some thinner routes or slightly smaller cities. If not, they are essentially maxed out as far as domestic cities they can serve, and probably getting to the max in terms of frequencies, as well
The answer should be "Yes", and again, they should have though of it years ago. As you say, they are pretty much maxed out at the number of cities they can serve with a 737.
So, since they haven't, they will loose out to AC and Jazz who do fly to smaller communities.
Thenoflyzone
[Edited 2011-03-08 11:59:13]
us Air Traffic Controllers have a good record, we haven't left one up there yet !!
9252fly From Canada, joined Sep 2005, 1341 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 5 days ago) and read 2737 times:
PD was being shopped around last year and approached WS according to their CEO. My guess PD will get offloaded and we may see either AC or WS make a potential purchase or investment. WS through a purchase could maintain service at YTZ to what are reported as the most profitable routes YOW YUL and EWR,sending a significant part of the fleet into regional markets across the country under the PD brand.
thenoflyzone From Canada, joined Jan 2001, 1963 posts, RR: 12 Reply 7, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 2504 times:
Quoting 9252fly (Reply 6): WS through a purchase could maintain service at YTZ to what are reported as the most profitable routes YOW YUL and EWR,sending a significant part of the fleet into regional markets across the country under the PD brand.
That's pretty much the only thing left for WS to do in order to compete more adequately in the triangle against AC.
Thenoflyzone
us Air Traffic Controllers have a good record, we haven't left one up there yet !!
F9Animal From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 4730 posts, RR: 30 Reply 8, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 2500 times:
Westjet is going to be here in 10 years. They have been doing things right... Until they get it all wrong, I seriously doubt they will fail.
Polaris From Canada, joined Feb 2000, 1118 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 4 days ago) and read 2069 times:
As soon as Westjet strays from one aircraft family into multiple aircraft families, as soon as they move toward a hub-and spoke system, as soon as they begin code-sharing, as soon as they extend themselves into overseas markets, their costs will begin to go up. At that point, they move toward mainline carrier status. It costs money to operate a mainline operation.
yegbey01 From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 1678 posts, RR: 3 Reply 11, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 1972 times:
Quoting Polaris (Reply 10): As soon as Westjet strays from one aircraft family into multiple aircraft families, as soon as they move toward a hub-and spoke system, as soon as they begin code-sharing, as soon as they extend themselves into overseas markets, their costs will begin to go up. At that point, they move toward mainline carrier status. It costs money to operate a mainline operation
They do operate a spoke and hub system to a certain point (with YYC and YYZ as the main hubs) already
OP3000 From United States of America, joined Jun 2009, 1678 posts, RR: 2 Reply 12, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 1902 times:
Quoting Polaris (Reply 10): As soon as Westjet strays from one aircraft family into multiple aircraft families, as soon as they move toward a hub-and spoke system, as soon as they begin code-sharing, as soon as they extend themselves into overseas markets, their costs will begin to go up.
It also opens up room for another startup LCC to come in and erode market share. As far as code-shares and the like, I think WS (like GOL in Brazil) is in a position as being the only other option major alliances have besides the legacy carries, so if they play their cards right they should be able to get the alliance partners to pick up a big chunk of the tab as far as integration.
I don't think they should venture into multiple aircraft, and frankly dont see much need to other than possibly a turbo-prop operation. Though I don't see them really being able to absorb PD - their marketing model is too different and if they are simply going to turn it into an LCC operation then might as wait for it to go bust and then replace their services or buy up assets.
timeair From Canada, joined May 2005, 436 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 1675 times:
Quoting IndianicWorld (Reply 9): Porter have the orders, and are now going to be under attack from AC Jazz from their main base, so it will be interesting to see what that will bring.
Ummmm NOOOOO.. under attack by Sky Regional d.b.a. Air Canada with 5 DH8-Q400's not much of an attack, JAZZ is not working out of YTZ at all.....
WS I believe also went to NY to check out JetBlue's ops with the A320/E190 fleet to see if the E190's would work in their fleet. Apparently they want to maintain fleet commonality to avoid additional training, spares, maintenance yadda yadda yadda as nothing has materialized after 2 or 3 years...
Sponsor Message: 
From Canada, joined Jan 2011, 21 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 1678 posts, 
From Australia, joined Jun 2001, 2400 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
