WestJet Rewards - Westjet acquires LGA slots

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Delta-Air-Lines-US-Airways-prnews-924432713.html?x=0&.v=1

With the new six-way agreement, Delta would operate an additional 110 slot pairs at LaGuardia; AirTran, Spirit and WestJet would obtain five slot pairs each at LaGuardia from Delta; US Airways would acquire 37 slot pairs at Reagan National; JetBlue would gain five slot pairs from US Airways at Reagan National; and US Airways would gain access to Sao Paulo and Tokyo.

Interesting. I wonder which cities Westjet is planning to serve from LGA, given that YYC is outside the allowed perimeter and there's already a lot of competition to NYC from YYZ/YTZ.

The Canadian airports with U.S. pre-clearance and within 1500 miles of LGA are: YWG, YYZ, YOW, YUL, YHZ.

Westjet flew YYZ-LGA (and, I think, YYZ-EWR), but pulled out of the market.

I thought LGA slots were being reduced, so surprising to see Westjet returning.

I assume they will operate YYZ-LGA. Nothing else makes sense. When they pulled out of LGA, WestJet claimed they couldn't get the slots to make the route profitable; presumably, this deal gives them the necessary slots.

I assume they will operate YYZ-LGA. Nothing else makes sense. When they pulled out of LGA, WestJet claimed they couldn't get the slots to make the route profitable; presumably, this deal gives them the necessary slots.

Yes, but that was pre-Porter. Porter now has 8 flights a day to EWR. So now Westjet may have the slots but I wonder if there is too much capacity. I assume that once phase 2 of the new YTZ terminal opens and there is pre-clearance there, Porter will be looking at LGA. Perhaps this was a competitive strike by Westjet to make things difficult for Porter...

There must be too much capacity -- if you consider EWR, LGA, and JFK as one market, they will be competing against AC, AA, DL, CO, and Porter. With the possible exception of DL, those airlines are not going to give up market share without a fight.

But where else could they fly from LGA and hope to fill a 737? Maybe they are counting on connecting traffic through YYZ? Maybe its a better option than Atlantic City?

So potentially WS could have flights from some destinations going into EWR and some into LGA? Or would WS consolidate at one of the two?

Are these slot pairs on a weekly basis?

So potentially WS could have flights from some destinations going into EWR and some into LGA? Or would WS consolidate at one of the two?

Partly answered in this article: (http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2715662)

For WestJet, it would also mean a return to an airport with which it has had a rocky past.

In 2005, the Calgary-based carrier attempted to fly to the New York airport from Toronto with limited success and cancelled the service shortly thereafter.

But David Newman, National Bank Financial analyst, said he believes the carrier would have better success this time around after growing substantially in recent years.

Last time, the carrier also failed to secure gates at the airport during peak times, and had just moved about 60% of its capacity to Toronto's Pearson International airport the year before from nearby Hamilton, Ont. "A situation we believe may be rectified with this deal, subject to seeing the final schedule," Mr. Newman said in a note to clients.

WestJet currently only services the New York market through nearby Newark, NJ, from Western Canada, he noted. But Canada's No. 2 airline is currently trying to increase its U.S. bound flights from about 11% of its schedule now to between 20% and 25% by 2013, management has said.

Mr. Newman also noted that LaGuardia would provide another common point of contact with Southwest Airlines, with which it has a planned code-share agreement.

Richard Bartrem, WestJet spokesman, said the carrier has no immediate plans for the slots, noting that the deal is still subject to regulatory approval. He added that the airline would have 24 months to declare the use of these slots, and that it would likely launch service before then.

The Canadian airports with U.S. pre-clearance and within 1500 miles of LGA are: YWG, YYZ, YOW, YUL, YHZ.

The airport doesn't necessarily need to have pre-clearance. it would then have to arrive as an International rather than a domestic flight. I'm specifically thinking of YXU that offers flights to DTW and ORD among others.

This puts a lot of airports that westjet already flies to within the proximity range, YXU, YQT among others. easily allowing passengers to connect to airports outside the 1500 mile limit.

Edit: YQT only allows for CBSA to process aircraft with no more than 40 pax, so that discounts them from the list.

The airport doesn't necessarily need to have pre-clearance. it would then have to arrive as an International rather than a domestic flight. I'm specifically thinking of YXU that offers flights to DTW and ORD among others.


That's true for the examples you gave, but LGA doesn't accept non-precleared international arrivals.

That's true for the examples you gave, but LGA doesn't accept non-precleared international arrivals.

my bad, when I lived within the proximity rule to LGA, I was always blessed with pre-clearance facilities so I never took notice to the lack of immigration facilities at LGA