mileageking

WestJet Says "Canada is Closed to Competition" After Air Canada, Transat Deal

"This decision shows blatant disregard for all Canadians who believe in healthy competition," said Ed Sims, WestJet President and CEO. "When Canadians look to explore the world and reunite with family and friends once again, they will face fewer choices and higher fares."

"It is hard to imagine a deal as anti-competitive in any industry where the number one player buys number three without meaningful remedies," continued Mr. Sims. "This is a serious setback to Canada's economy. The Competition Bureau themselves described such cosmetic remedies as inadequate. Canadians should be profoundly disappointed."

Canada closed to competition | TravelPulse Canada

On Time Reports

Perhaps it shows how ticked off they were when they sent the press release at 12:45 AM this morning.

YOWgary

Notice he didn't say "Canadians will face higher fares from everyone but WestJet."

mileageking

Yeap if fares go up on AC/AT, expect same from WS

YOWgary

On the what, dozen routes Westjet and Transat compete on?

mileageking

Probably. Also where will Rouge play into all of this.

24left

Transat media release, for those interested

Transat Announces Approval of its Arrangement with Air Canada by Canadian Authorities

https://www.transat.com/en-CA/corpor...eleases/124360

QUOTE re the European Commission

"....the review period has been extended and a decision of the Commission is now expected to be rendered in the first half of 2021."

Here2day2021

I wouldn’t be surprised if AC decides to abandon Rouge in favour of Transat. It’s the exact same operating model and Rouge doesn’t really have a good reputation going for themselves.

mileageking

Welcome to FT. Will be interesting to see how they divvy up routes, fares, etc. Maybe it's a maintain strategy on one while aggressively growing the other. Not many airlines globally with triple brand strategy, not saying it can't be done successfully.

YOWgary

Is there current (or at least 2019) data on this? Does the average passenger (a) notice the difference between Rouge and Mainline, and (b) rate them differently?

Or does a bad Rouge experience just affect the customer's perception of anything with a maple leaf on the tail?

RangerNS

WestJet is shutting down? Or admitting their to-the-minute parallel pricing changes as ACs are more than a coincidence?

mileageking

More likely your second point.

AC7E7

Westjet and their crocodile tears. This is just a standard statement they ‘had’ to make, but I don’t think they care about the merger. Westjet has not made any real effort to attract customers in Quebec. Besides, it wasn’t long ago when they used Swoop to crush new competitors in Western Canada.

Westjet/Onex had more than enough time to submit a bid for Transat. They chose not to. Frankly, they have bigger problems on their plate.

As much as I advocate for competition, the fact of the matter is the market is not big enough for 3 large independent airlines in Canada - even if the 3rd airline is relatively small. Transat’s Caribbean routes were losing money before COVID, and won’t recover anytime soon. This was an opportunity for the government to save jobs.

At this point, Transat’s only other option is bankruptcy. I have no doubt AC will push Transat through bankruptcy protection to reduce their operating costs. Transat will exit a leaner airline backed by AC.

tcook052

I would be surprise if AC opted to drop the rouge brand altogether as its invested 9-years on its airline-within-an-airline and can't see it throwing all that away. Transat's reputation isn't a whole lot better so think AC dropping the Transat references if more likely than it dropping its own rouge brand identity.

Adam Smith

I don't think they had to make this statement; they did it for PR purposes, to try to remind Canadians that they're supposed to be the good guys.

Transat was getting along just fine. Remember, AC was willing to pay over $700MM for the business before COVID. We also have Sunwing and Flair. What makes you think that situation was unsustainable?

Unlikely. They had a sizeable amount of cash on hand and secured additional financing when they revised the deal with AC.

That's not how bankruptcy works.