
| WestJet | ||
|---|---|---|
| IATA WS |
ICAO WJA |
Callsign WESTJET |
| Founded | 1996 | |
| Focus cities | ||
| Member lounge | WestJet Lounges | |
| Fleet size | 79 (+42 orders) | |
| Destinations | 55 | |
| Headquarters | Calgary, Alberta | |
| Key people | Sean Durfy (CEO,President) Clive Beddoe, (Chairman of the Board of Directors, Co-Founder) |
|
| Website: http://www.westjet.com | ||
WestJet Airlines Ltd. (TSX: WJA) is a Canadian low-cost carrier[1] based in Calgary, Alberta[2] that flies within Canada and to the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. WestJet is the second largest Canadian carrier behind Air Canada[3]. WestJet is a rarity in the airline industry in that it is non-unionized. Profit-sharing is credited for this fact. WestJet plans to be one of the world's top five most profitable international airlines, by 2016.[4]
WestJet is a public company with over 7,500 employees[5] and 1.2 billion USD market capitalization.[6]
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Founded on February 29, 1996 by Clive Beddoe, Mark Hill, Tim Morgan and Donald Bell, WestJet aimed to follow the same path as Southwest Airlines and Morris Air, as a low-cost carrier. The airline was originally intended to operate solely in Western Canada, hence its name.
On February 29, 1996, the first WestJet flight (a Boeing 737) departed. At that time, the airline served Calgary (the airline's home city and headquarters), Edmonton, Kelowna, Vancouver, and Winnipeg with a fleet of three Boeing 737-200 aircraft and two-hundred twenty employees. By the end of that same year, they had included Regina, Saskatoon, and Victoria. In 1997, service to Abbotsford was added. 1997 also marked the one millionth passenger carried by the airline.
In early 1999, Beddoe stepped down as WestJet's CEO and was replaced by former Air Ontario executive Steve Smith. In July 1999, WestJet made its initial public offering of stock at 1.5 million shares, opening at $10 per share[7]. The same year, the cities of Thunder Bay, Grande Prairie, and Prince George were added to WestJet's route map.
In 2000, WestJet CEO Steve Smith was released from WestJet after 18 months in the position, apparently due to differences about management style[8]; Smith went on to head rival Air Canada's low-cost subsidiary Zip. After Smith's departure, Clive Beddoe again became CEO of the company, a position he held until July 2007[9].
Due to restructuring in the Canadian airline industry resulting from the takeover of Canadian Airlines by Air Canada the same year, WestJet expanded into eastern Canada, starting service to the cities of Hamilton and Ottawa, both in Ontario, as well as Moncton, New Brunswick. The airline selected Hamilton to be the focus of the airline's eastern Canadian operations and its main connection point in eastern Canada.
In 2001, expansion continued to include Fort McMurray and Comox. WestJet also added Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thompson and Brandon, although service to these four cities was subsequently withdrawn. In 2002, the airline added two new eastern Canadian destinations: the cities of London and Toronto. In April 2003, WestJet added Windsor, Montreal, Halifax, St. John's, and Gander.
WestJet entered into a two-year agreement with Air Transat in August 2003 whereby WestJet 737 aircraft would be filled by Transat's two main tour operators, World of Vacations and Air Transat Holidays. The planes were operated by WestJet crews. The agreement between WestJet and Air Transat was amicably terminated in February, 2009. [10]
In 2004, the airline was accused by rival Air Canada of espionage, specifically accessing Air Canada confidential information via a private website in order to gain a business advantage, and sued in Ontario Superior Court.[11] On May 29, 2006, the two companies issued a joint press release, with WestJet admitting to the charges leveled by Air Canada. WestJet agreed to pay $5.5 million dollars in legal and investigation fees to Air Canada, and to donate $10 million to various children's charities in the name of Air Canada and WestJet.[12]
In January 2004, WestJet announced that it was moving the focus of its eastern operation from Hamilton to Toronto the following April, fully moving into the lucrative Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal triangle and tripling the total number of its flights out of Toronto Pearson International Airport[13].
In 2004, a number of U.S. destinations were added or announced. These included San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and New York City[14].
Palm Springs was added in early 2005 to the company's list of destinations, as was San Diego, while New York-LaGuardia was dropped. In April 2005, they announced new seasonal service to Charlottetown but ceased service to Gander. In June 2005, the airline announced it was ceasing service to Windsor, effective October 30, 2005, shifting capacity to nearby London. In fall 2005, Ft. Myers and Las Vegas were added to the growing list of destinations.
After rumours and speculation surrounding the implementation of extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS), WestJet announced new service to the Hawaiian Islands from Vancouver on September 20, 2005. In December 2005, the airline began flying from Vancouver to Honolulu and Maui.
In 2006, WestJet announced that it was dropping its service to San Francisco and San Diego. WestJet's first scheduled service outside Canada and the United States began in 2006 with service to Nassau, Bahamas. This was considered a huge milestone within the company's long-term destination strategy and was a vital goal for future international market presence.
In September 2006, Sean Durfy took over as President of WestJet from founder Clive Beddoe.[15]
On October 26, 2006, WestJet announced that it had its best quarterly profit to date, of C$52.8 million.
In 2007, WestJet announced that they would begin flights from Deer Lake Regional Airport in Newfoundland, Saint John in New Brunswick, and Kitchener-Waterloo in Ontario. In June 2007, WestJet added seven new international seasonal flights to Saint Lucia, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico as well as a third Hawaiian destination; Kona.
The same year, WestJet commissioned the construction of a new six-storey head office building, next to their existing hangar facility at the Calgary International Airport. The building was constructed following the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, featuring a rainwater retention system and geothermal heating.[16] The first employees moved in during the first quarter of 2009, and the building officially opened the following May.[17]
In May 2008, WestJet launched daily non-stop service to Quebec City. The next month, WestJet commenced seasonal service between Calgary and New York City via Newark Liberty International Airport. In May 2009, the airline launched new seasonal service to the cities of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and Sydney, Nova Scotia. In June 2009, service was relaunched to San Diego and San Francisco.
In 2005, WestJet introduced in-flight entertainment from LiveTV on board its 737-700 and -800 fleet. The system utilizes the Bell TV satellite network, and channels include Global TV, CTV, CBS, Citytv, Treehouse TV, ABC, NBC, CBC, TSN and a WestJet Channel, which shows a regional map with the aircraft's location, GPS derived altitude, and groundspeed.[18] WestJet added LiveTV onto their 737-600 aircraft beginning in the 2007/2008 Winter season; every aircraft in their fleet is now equipped with the system.
WestJet was to be the Boeing launch customer for the 737-600 winglets, but announced in their Q2 2006 results that they were not going to move ahead with those plans. WestJet CEO Clive Beddoe cited the cost and time associated with their installation was not warranted as they are primarily used for short-haul routes. As a result of the abandonment of the program to install winglets on these aircraft, WestJet incurred a one-time charge of approximately $609,000.
In the past ten years, WestJet has made significant gains in domestic market share against Air Canada. In 2000 it held only 7% to Air Canada's 77%, though by 2009 WestJet has risen to 36%, against Air Canada's 57%.[19]
In late April 2009, WestJet announced temporary suspensions of service to several of its Mexico destinations due to the outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) in the country, effective in early May the same year. Service is slated to resume to most of those cities on June 20, 2009.[20]
Agreements with KLM and Air France for travel to Europe are set to come into effect in 2009.[21] KLM currently has service to three of WestJet's focus cities (Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver), while Air France has service to one focus city (Toronto).
In the latter part of 2010, WestJet plans to implement its extensive codeshare agreement with Southwest Airlines, allowing for expanded travel within the United States.[22]
WestJet will also introduce their own frequent flyer program in 2009, to better compete with Air Canada.[23]
WestJet currently flies to 55 destinations throughout North America, including 30 cities in Canada and another 14 in the United States.
WestJet's largest focus city, in terms of daily departures, is its home base at Calgary International Airport, with Toronto Pearson International Airport being the airline's second-largest focus city, and main connection point in eastern Canada. The airline also has a strong presence at Edmonton International Airport, Vancouver International Airport and Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport.
WestJet serves major US airports such as Los Angeles International Airport, Las Vegas McCarran International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and San Francisco International Airport; the latter two on a seasonal basis. The airline provides the most Canadian flights to Las Vegas and Orlando, offering non-stop routes (some of them seasonal) from nine Canadian cities to Las Vegas and eight to Orlando; in the first months of 2009, WestJet became the largest international carrier to Las Vegas.[24]
WestJet also serves seven destinations in the Caribbean and four in Mexico, some on a seasonal basis.
| Route | Start Date |
|---|---|
| Kelowna Puerto Vallarta | November 1 |
| Victoria Puerto Vallarta | November 1 |
| Kelowna Cabo San Lucas | November 6 |
| Abbotsford Puerto Vallarta | November 7 |
| Comox Puerto Vallarta | November 7 |
| Hamilton Cancun | November 7 |
| Prince George Puerto Vallarta | November 7 |
| Regina Cancun | December 6 |
| Regina Mazatlan | December 7 |
| Toronto Cancun | December 7 |
| Winnipeg Cancun | December 7 |
| Regina Puerto Vallarta | December 8 |
| Vancouver Puerto Vallarta | December 8 |
| Montreal Cancun | December 9 |
| Regina Cabo San Lucas | December 9 |
| Saskatoon Mazatlan | December 10 |
| Saskatoon Puerto Vallarta | December 11 |
| Kelowna Cancun | December 12 |
| Saskatoon Cancun | December 12 |
| Victoria Cancun | December 12 |
| Moncton Cancun | January 9 |
In August 2006, in a Globe and Mail interview, Sean Durfy stated that WestJet was in talks with Oneworld, a code and route sharing alliance that includes many large worldwide airlines including British Airways and American Airlines. Durfy said that, if a deal with Oneworld were reached, it would allow WestJet to maintain its scheduling flexibility;[25] Durfy was later quoted in 2007 saying that a deal for WestJet to join the Oneworld alliance was unlikely.[26] Despite this, WestJet did formalize a deal with Oneworld in November 2008, to partner on sales of travel to corporate and business travelers. In the press release announcing the agreement, WestJet and Oneworld stressed that the airline was not joining the alliance.[27]
In 2008, WestJet announced partnerships and code-sharing agreements with Air France, KLM, Mokulele Airlines, and Southwest Airlines.[28][29]
In 2009 WestJet announced it was in talks with 70 airlines around the world interested in a code-sharing agreement. An agreement with Taiwan's China Airlines is expected to be announced next, followed by British Airways and Cathay Pacific.[30][31]
The WestJet fleet consists of the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-600 | 13 | 119 | PTVs and leather seats |
| Boeing 737-700 | 56 | 136 | PTVs and leather seats, Winglets |
| Boeing 737-800 | 9 | 166 | PTVs and leather seats, Winglets |
The airline flies a fleet that consists exclusively of Boeing 737s, taking a cue from the successful single operating type model pioneered by Southwest Airlines. The first 737-700 delivery took place in 2001, and the first deliveries of 737-600 and 737-800 aircraft began in 2005, with the final 737-600 aircraft delivered in September 2006. WestJet's future aircraft orders only consist of 737-700 and 737-800 models. WestJet plans to have a fleet of 111 aircraft by the end of 2013.
Boeing confirmed on August 2, 2007 that WestJet had placed an order for 20 Boeing 737NG. The order is primarily for B737-700 but with conversion rights to B737-800s. [32]
It was announced early in 2005 that the 737-200 fleet would be retired within the year, to be replaced by newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft. On July 12, 2005, WestJet announced that it had completed the sale of its remaining Boeing 737-200 to Miami-based Apollo Aviation Group (Apollo).
On January 9, 2006, the last Boeing 737-200 (Tail 748 C-FCWJ) was flown during a fly-by ceremony at the WestJet hangar in Calgary. (See External Links). The aircraft was flown by Don Bell. The last commercial revenue flight by a -200 was a charter flight, Las Vegas to Calgary, arriving at 0130 January 9, 2006, flown by tail 741 (C-GWWJ).
In 2003, WestJet donated a 737-200 to the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). Currently it is located in the BCIT Aerospace Campus beside the Vancouver International Airport.[33]
WestJet includes a buy on board meal service program with sandwiches, alcoholic beverages, and some snacks for purchase. In some markets, the sandwiches offered onboard are made by local delis in the departure city (such as the Bread Garden in Vancouver, Spolumbo's in Calgary, and DiRienzo's in Ottawa). Some snacks and non-alcoholic beverages are available for free.[34]
WestJet is famous for its fun and friendly staff - or owners as its commercials state. For the past few years on April 1, WestJet has issued 'joke' press releases as part of April Fool's Day; such as everyone holding their arms out-stretched on takeoff or the introduction of 'sleeper cabins' in overhead bins [35]
The WestJet planes are mostly white, except for the lettering on the cabins, the tail, and the metallic wings and tailfins.
The tail is divided into rough and slanted thirds, coloured (from back to front) navy blue, white, and teal. This pattern is used on the outside of the blended winglets at the end of the wings, while on the inside, the winglets are painted white with the words WestJet.com in black lettering.
Beginning in 2006, WestJet began opening lounges in select Canadian airports. Most are operated by Servisair.[36]
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Boeing 737-700 at Palm Springs |
Boeing 737 at Kitchener/Waterloo |
Boeing 737-700 arriving at Regina International Airport |