I'm surprised that LGW will be one of the first routes, especially out of YYC. I assumed the 763s would be used on more "leisure-oriented" flights without J, and the 789s would be used for more "business oriented" flights. YYC-LHR will have both AC and BA next summer, both of which offer big J cabins, strong alliances, lounges, etc (ie. likely more appealing options to business pax).

Landing slots pairs for LHR are currently about CDN$30m if they can be obtained by convincing another airline to sell them, so it is unlikely WestJet will want to make that investment, as it will add about $30 to every return ticket price if the slot cost is amortised over 10 years. I think 16 Business class seats are able to be sold for business users who's destination is London, as the Gatwick Express to Victoria has quicker Tube connections to the main business areas in London, than the Heathrow Express to Paddington, and the M23 moves better than the M4 if taking a car or limo into central London.

I thought they might be a little more aggressive with the business class fares since they ultimately need to shake loose loyal Air Canada premium travelers.

I will never understand the fixation with LHR, there is no force in the universe that would make me by my own free will step foot in there.

Absolutely 100% agree.

Who do you think WestJet's core market is?

They need leisure destinations that have some business traffic. These Dreamliners are not going to Punta Cana. Dublin, Paris, and London make huge perfect sense. Not to mention feed in Paris from AF, and London being a focus city already. I'd expect Amsterdam to be on the radar.

What's most interesting about this announcement is it's not really aggressive at all. WS will still not exceed AC's widebody international traffic at AC's fourth largest hub (YYC) as they are running daily FRA, LHR on 789s or 77L (which run year round) and NRT on 763s up to daily in summer. These routes are still all seasonal (note also AC runs CDG and DUB from YVR seasonally). Presumably LGW goes back to 2x a week or some lesser capacity in winter (WS 1). Where will these birds go in W19?

I think Westjet's core market is leisure pax - with a few business pax thrown in. Flying to Paris, for example, completely makes sense to me - popular tourist spot, no direct competition, business market, etc. Meanwhile with London, they're going to have to compete with AC and BA to lure those business pax, and I see that as a big challenge, especially if J fares match those carriers.

They are already flying to London, Dreamliner or not. Your argument makes no sense. They are already competing with AC and BA and are doing it at a profitable enough level to continue.

Paris will to be WS what FRA, is to AC. There is not a lot of local traffic heads from Calgary to these destinations it is all about connecting with partner airlines. AC is connecting into Lufthansa and WS is connecting with Air France.

We think alike. My thoughts exactly.

I am trying to figure out where the 3 B789's will go from YYC in the winter... can you imagine when there are 10 of them?

My guess is 5x weekly LGW, 2x weekly CDG, 1x weekly DUB, and then a whole bunch of YYC-Hawaii-YVR-Hawaii-YYC rotations. 'cause, yeah, where else do you fly 320-seater aircraft from YYC to in the winter?

They won't base all 10 from YYC. I imagine YYZ gets the next set, then YVR last. I think what happens to the Europe routes in winter depends a lot on how well they do in summer. Reality is though, it doesn't make sense to fly 789s to Hawaii. This is a leisure route that could easily be served ex-YYC using a 7M8 (it has the range and does it now) and YVR can be served and has for years with narrowbody 737NGs. Possible they could shift the 767s back for this from YYZ and shift the 789s to YYZ, but who knows? Depends on so many things including what the DL JV does and what that will sell.

I could see WS 1 remaining daily (LGW) though throughout winter. If they did run them to Hawaii though - sweet, sign me up.

Agree that Paris and London make sense. Dublin - not so sure.

That was my first reaction to DUB but then remembered reading that tourism to Ireland is soaring, especially from N. America, up 8% Jan. - Aug. over previous year.