WestJet 737-7CT (33970/1556) C-GCWJ arrives at Las Vegas - McCarran International (LAS/KLAS) on December 15, 2011.
(Photo by Michael Carter)
Calgary-based Westjet is using its daily, seasonal flights from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Dublin, Ireland as a testing ground for future European expansion, airline CFO Vito Culmone told analysts at the Cowen and Co. Global Transportation & Aerospace/Defense Conference in Boston.
The service, which uses a Boeing 737-700, comes ahead of WestJet’s plans to acquire four used Boeing 767-300ERs and deploy them to Hawaii in late 2015.
Dublin was chosen as a destination for two reasons—it is in the 737’s range and allows customers the option of buying an onward European ticket on various low-cost airlines.
“This gradual entrance into the market will provide us with the opportunity to get comfortable with the requirements for operations, government relations, sales and distribution, currencies, taxes and many more items as we move further abroad,” Culmone said. “We plan to consider slowly adding European destinations as we become more comfortable with the market.”
Westjet owns 36% of the domestic Canadian market share, but it seems to have pivoted to a more international strategy in the past year. In addition to considering trans-Atlantic expansion, it is also growing in the trans-border market—and for good reason.
In a recent presentation, analyst Mike Boyd of Group International predicted transborder traffic would grow from about 25 million passengers this year to roughly 32 million by 2023.
“Transborder has the leisure and business component,” Culmone said. “[New York] LaGuardia is performing very well for us—better than it was at the start. We continue to see opportunities going forward. It is a competitive space, particularly the sun leisure space.”
Air Canada Rouge is the obvious competitor, but Culmone named Sunwing Airlines, a 12-aircraft Canadian charter and scheduled carrier, as a legitimate challenger. This week, Sunwing announced new weekly service between Toronto and Cozumel, Mexico.
Separately, Culmone said WestJet is on track with its previously announced agreement to sell 10 737-700s to Southwest Airlines, a deal announced in May 2013. WestJet will transfer one aircraft to Southwest this month, four in the fourth quarter, and five in the first quarter of next year.
Concurrently, WestJet will take delivery of 10 737-800s from Boeing.
(Brian Sumers - ATWOnline News)
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