As Air Canada soars, WestJet takes a predictable nosedive
 

https://www.thestar.com/business/201...-nosedive.html

One of today’s most compelling business sagas is the reversal of fortunes at WestJet Airlines Ltd.

For most of its 22-year existence, the Calgary-based company has been one of the world’s few consistently successful major airlines.

But today’s WestJet appears to be on a flight path to mediocrity, or worse. In its most recent quarter, WestJet reported its first loss in 13 years.

Should WestJet investors, employees and customers be worried?

In a word, yes.

If Westjet can sign some contracts with their new unions then they should be fine. If they get stuck in more labour unrest then they'll lose a bundle.

It's not just signing deals but signing long-term deals as AC finally managed to do. AC's labour peace has helped it with its turnaround in recent years and WS would do well to learn those lessons or yes, they will be in rougher financial waters..

It's a sad commentary on our times that those who lead and win the race to the bottom are successful, at least financially.

It is also a sad commentary on what can happen to a company when enough employees feel that they have been badly treated.

As Air Canada soars, WestJet Swoops!

Come on, an extra $5+ on baggage fees will fix everything, right?

Ron.

I still remember the day when I realised "Waking up at 7am instead of 4am is worth $17 to me...."

The STAR article sounds more like someone trying to engage in a short-play on Westjet stock. A terribly simplistic analysis based on the assumption that Westjet could and should stick to a business model stuck in 1996. I would agree they may have reached too aggressively in attempting to expand and diversify their market but a stay-the-course/no-risk approach wouldn't pacify the stock markets either.

Agree, it was a one sided smear of Westjet. WJ is trying to grow but guess what? Unlike AC, it has never gone into bankruptcy. One quarter of bad results does not a year make. Let's see what happens with the roll out of the dreamliner and business seats. What WJ does need to pay attention to while trying to raise revenue and cut cost - is to reinvigorate the "Can-Do" attitude of by gone years. Employees cannot lose sight of that. Consistency has turned into more hit and miss in the last few years in terms of customer service.

We'll see how the new boss handles the turbulence WS is encountering however feel the piece is more fact than fiction. It will be tricky to navigate the myriad of additional costs and complications in becoming a truly global airline and there's bound to be more union pain felt so some significant issues to work out.

Things started going downhill when Westjet stopped copying the (very successful) Southwest model and started trying to copy Air Canada. Sad.

Ron.

https://blog.westjet.com/wardair-was...-oped:linkedin

This article is our rebuttal to The (Toronto) Star columnist David Olive’s opinion piece published in The Star on September 1, 2018. We asked The Star to run our rebuttal to provide balance to Mr. Olive’s article, but they declined. So, we’re publishing it on our blog.