I didn't have a problem with Clive Beddoe up until now. Why should Hamilton kiss his a**? If he charged lower fares than his YYZ routes - or even matched them, then maybe more Hamilton area residents would have an incentive to use the WestJet service. What an arrogant jerk!

From today's Hamilton Spectator:
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New Threat From Westjet

Stung by criticism of move to Toronto, CEO suggests full Hamilton pullout

An irritated Clive Beddoe has hinted he might just pull the remaining WestJet flights out of Hamilton if there isn't more respect for what the airline has done and is doing for Hamilton.

The chief executive officer of WestJet says his employees are "taking abuse" because WestJet is cutting back and moving 60 per cent of its flights from Hamilton to Toronto's airport on April 18.

"If people feel that way, that they don't want us, we should pull the whole thing out and say the heck with it," he told The Spectator.

Civic officials are horrified at the suggestion and hope Beddoe was only blowing off steam.

And WestJet's public relations staff was softpedalling their boss's comments later in the day.

"That's not the opinion he has here every day," said Siobhan Vinish, director of public relation and communications who added WestJet values Hamilton. She said the company is troubled because many people seem to think WestJet is pulling all its services out of Hamilton entirely.

WestJet is having to mount a special advertising campaign pointing out some misinformation and stressing it is still in business in Hamilton, she said.

Beddoe told The Spectator that WestJet lost money trying to promote its flights in and out of Hamilton and it shouldn't be blamed because passengers were not drawn to John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport.

"The reality is before we came along, Hamilton had nothing," said Beddoe who added WestJet shouldn't be expected to continue providing money-losing services to Hamilton.

WestJet had shown Hamilton's airport was economically viable but the airline overdid it by expanding its flights, he said.

Flights to Ottawa and Montreal are being moved to Toronto. Service to Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton, is being curtailed. But WestJet is still serving the city.

Beddoe said his airline is only scaling back to what it provided 18 months ago. He said the "offensive" tone of reaction in Hamilton is that WestJet was pulling out.

"Why not laud us for the service we have provided instead of condemning us for what we are taking away?" Beddoe said.

The media has blown the cuts out of proportion, he said.

John Dolbec, the Chief Executive Officer of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce says it's unfortunate if WestJet employees are taking it in the neck for the cuts and that the airline has every right to make a "sound business decision."

But Beddoe shouldn't be surprised by the emotional and "heartfelt" reaction to WestJet's cuts in Hamilton.

The Hamilton community appreciates the airline's success and is loyal to WestJet, he said.

But Hamiltonians are reacting negatively to losing their Montreal and Ottawa flights and having to fight gridlock to get to Toronto, Dolbec said.

"Some loyal customers, frankly, feel somewhat betrayed by WestJet abandoning them because a lot of these folks do not want to deal out of Pearson," he said. "He has, in fact, abandoned them and he can't escape that."

Hamilton Mayor Larry Di Ianni said people are probably voicing in an "awkward and maybe inappropriate way" their displeasure at the flights being lost.

"Hopefully we don't burn any bridges ... and see WestJet business grow again in our community," Di Ianni said.

Ken Mitchell, a spokesman for TradePort International which runs Hamilton's airport, says he's not aware of WestJet's staff getting a rough ride from customers.

"We believe WestJet staff are family and they are still family," he said.

"Everybody is disappointed with the WestJet move ... but we still see WestJet as being one of our, if not our major business partners."

Beddoe says there was no effort to fast-track WestJet's switch of Montreal and Ottawa flights to Toronto as suggested by a critic of the move in a Saturday Spectator story.

He suggested the April 18 switch-over to Toronto might have come even earlier.

The date was arranged with Toronto's airport authority and pushed back so as not to conflict with the Easter holiday break and to allow a smooth transition to the new terminal at Pearson, he said.

There was no obligatory 120-day notice required from the Canadian Transportation Agency because there would be nearby alternative service to Montreal and Ottawa from Toronto's airport for Hamiltonians, Beddoe said.

That might not be a great alternative for Hamilton residents but it was better than that available to a lot of other areas of Canada, Beddoe said.

"It's distressing for us to have lost money trying to provide a service and then get condemned so severely," he said.

Spokesman Jadrino Huot at the Canadian Transportation Agency says it agrees frequently to a less than 120-day public notification period for a community -- as set out in regulations -- when service is being curtailed.

The agency agreed to 97 days notice with WestJet, he said.