tcook052

Seems to me a few assumptions can be made if we read between the lines of this deal, various online news articles and the press release.

It would seem Jazz pilots and crews will operate the aircraft otherwise why wouldn't Sunquest just charter the Thomas Cook planes themselves if, as it says in one of the articles, the UK charter airline requires a Canadian partner for legal reasons.

AFAIK wet leases wouldn't require special rebranding or repainting of the aircraft itself but if Jazz is to become the "operating airline" there may well be a different set of rules. Maybe YOWKid knows some of the intracies involved.

If Jazz is acting as operating airline and since obviously their pilots haven't been flying 757's the next hurdle would be having them trained on that airframe. Who foots that bill and how long does that take?

Also in terms of equipment Thomas Cook does have an upgraded premium economy section something akin to Transat's Club Class. Think UA E+ with a few extra check-in, luggage and meal perks rather than a true biz class product.

briantoronto

Yea, I think they gave lounge access as well. Last time I was in the Plaza Premium Lounge in YYZ T3, there was a sign saying in rather big letters that they were only allowed in for three hours, no guests, etc...

global happy traveller

competition wise it will be status quo.... u dont have skyservice competeing but at the same time u get guarenteed revenue to fly from Thomas Cook.... as for ACV....there are more competitiors out there and will always remain...... lets face it, if thomas cook was to contract our with Westjet for example, then AC as a whole will lose out more

why fly

Now, the next question how can AC get hold of some of these 757's they would be much better planes for YVR-HNL from AC point of view of making money.

briantoronto

Why would they loose out more? The issue (to me) is is that Jazz is not owned by Air Canada, or ACE, but is an independent company, now competing with Air Canada.

robsaw

There is no "win" for AC. Jazz activity for AC is under a Capacity Purchase Agreement where AC gets ALL the revenue for Jazz AC flights and AC pays Jazz for services. The profit Jazz gets from that activity is, of course, to be used for whatever purposes Jazz management and BoD sees fit. It can hardly be called a subsidy when it is internal revenue but why would Jazz be into a business that had to "subsidized" by some other part of the business?

This is Jazz's first foray into substantial competition with their former parent. So, I'm sure AC is following closely.

ByrdluvsAWACO

So is Jazz completely independent of AC as far as ownership goes?

ChrisA330

Yes - Jazz LP is an Income Trust with no ownership stake by AC or ACE.

Shareholder

There is next to no real competition with AC as AC did not have a contract to fly these vacation travellers and manages to fill its own scheduled services to these destinations. If anything, by giving JAZZ diversification, it ensures stability to the company and assists AC in that fashion. It may be competition for AC Vacations, but Sunquest had that market share previously so stasis remains.

If anything, this is a challenge to WS which has been trying to build this market but has a disadvantage of not having the right airplanes all the time. While WS is taking up some of SkyServices contracts, it must have been scared off adding the 757 to its fleet to handle the new business beyond what it could handle using its 737 fleet over night and in off-peak weekend hours for this type of charter business.

LeSabre74

AC must have been consulted/sounded out in some form or other.

ChrisA330

I wouldn't be surprised if this type of situation was clarified in the recent changes to the CPA.

AC gets a lower cost, Jazz gets more flexibility to explore opportunites outside of AC.

Shareholder

Would they not be the same SkyService pilots who flew them before? It is easier for JAZZ to do this with its union, than for AC to take on a new aircraft and retrain its own pilots under its union's contract. For JAZZ, the significant rating change for its pilots will become available in the future but doesn't have to result in an immediate retraining process. There are lots of surplus 757 pilots on the market who can be hired on non-full time contracts.

billybob123

Wonder if there will ever be swaps with the "mainline" Jazz fleet? Imagine an upgauge on the "Tarmac-to-Tarmac" (love that term!) YYC-YEG service from DH8 to 757?

Or worse, a swap from 757 to CRJ (with tech stop) to Mexico or the Dominican? (shudder)

tcook052

I would seriously doubt it, though the mere thought could interest PE.

dudestir

I would think there may be some gain/loss associated with the connecting segments. If Westjet picked up the planes they would pushing the connections through their routing. In this case Jazz and AC would likely pick up a fair share of this traffic to the departure airports.