YYCCL3

https://calgaryherald.com/business/l...rs-bottom-line

james dean

No surprise there, all airlines are going to feel the hurt from this one. The problem though it's easier to reduce than to ramp up when things get back to normal. Pilot training being but one aspect.

cirrusdragoon

Hopeful they do not go bust like Canada 3000 did during 2001.

Fiordland

The Globe is reporting the union is expecting over 50% of flight attendants being laid off. Not good at all.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...e-to-covid-19/

tracon

I wonder how Onex is feeling.

I say tongue in cheek with no factual basis to back me up.........
they could have waited 6 months and bought every airline in the country for what they paid for WS.

Antonio8069

No, I don't think Onex is going bankrupt anytime soon! They have said they are in for the long run.
I am genuinely puzzled by WS strategy? Laying off 1/2 their FAs is pretty drastic, IMO. They have a lot of new aircraft (leased or owned?) Their public filings (Sedar) provided no forward looking insight? Moreover, I don't get their Swoop straegy either? WS seems to have entered an uber competitive market (Rouge, Flair to compete against themselves (check arrivals @ YMH and you will see what I mean!)

HangTen

If you’re confused by WS’s strategy,, what’s your take on AC’s strategy?

There isn’t a sector of the business they don’t play in, with airplanes ranging in size from 37 seats to 500 seats.

You’ll see massive capacity reductions at all airlines in the coming days. No one has the resources to be able to withstand this for any significant length of time.

Delta are the 800lb gorilla in the business today and look what they’re doing to get an idea of what’s coming down the turnpike at warp factor 9.

calgaryhhr

I expect that this Covid pandemic will force WestJet/Onex hand toward shutting down Swoop. I can't see that airline making it through this downturn.

Westjet's first move should be to shut down Swoop and layoff all that stay and then move onto laying off WestJet staff as required.

Fiordland

I think the strategy is fairly straightforward.....

The Sedar filling was done by a board knowing the company was set to go private and likely replaced by a new board. Given no forward looking insight would be the best thing to do. Now that they are private, there are no Sedar fillings.

WS is scared of Flair. They think it might someday grow into WestJet 2.0 and become a real competitor. Swoop is their low quality, low service, banner designed to make it difficult for Flair to become viable competitor. It basically matches Flair in every way. Both Swoop and Flair are airlines to be avoided at all cost. Both should fail during this downturn.

WS is trying to become a real global airline (and yes it baby steps). The new fleet is part of that as well as real business class seats and lounges. The 50% layoff talk is what every real global airline is looking at doing today.

aerobod

The 90% staff layoff at SAS is probably closer to where the industry will be in the next few months: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ng-10-000-jobs, together with force majeure invoked in contracts with suppliers.

Error 601

My WestJet pilot neighbor is pretty nervous and he isn't sure if the widebody fleet will survive this. He also said the number of no-shows over the last couple of days has been ridiculous.

maxjasper

No-shows=? what did he mean?

deskcaptain

People unable to call in to cancel are just not showing up for their flight.

Fiordland

Globe is reporting 60% reduction domestically and 40% international.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...d-coronavirus/

I think that means the 767 are gone, that provides a 50% reduction in the widebody fleet. The MAX would be 11% of the narrow body, so some additional 737 to go away. Hopefully it is the 737 from swoop and that silly banner is put to bed.

aerobod

I doubt you will see aircraft permanently leaving the fleet so quickly, as there won’t be buyers and there are lease obligations still to be fulfilled, although potentially stalled due to force majeure. For both WestJet and Swoop I expect the summer schedule from the end of May onwards will still be planned to be flown at this point, it will be a case of how to get through the current crisis and then how to restart normal operation again as quickly as possible.

If the pandemic continues through the summer, then cancellations and temporary layoffs will continue longer, with the main aim of the airlines to conserve cash reserves to avoid being bankrupt. If both WestJet and Air Canada can cut their costs to 50% of normal and have minimal sales and flight schedule at 25% of normal, then they can both survive about a year on their current cash reserves.