Fiordland

Disappointing.

tcook052

Unsurprising.

tracon

An opinion from Air Insight Group. Whoever they are.


However, there is another opportunity worth considering. That opportunity is WestJet.

To start with, we need to get the obvious Alberta/Quebec dysfunction out of the way. Francophone Quebec and Algo-Alberta are not an obvious mix. But both sides need to step back and look at the bigger picture. That bigger picture is a better one than leaving things as they are.

cirrusdragoon

Perhaps with a restructured transat, westjet could explore the possibility of being a partner to provide lift for their holiday package unit. Much like they did with the Sunwing group?

Error 601

WestJet and Air Transat did that for years.

Beginning: https://www.transat.com/en-CA/corpor...eleases/122986
End: https://www.transat.com/en-CA/corpor...eleases/123566

Fiordland

Good they have a proven track record of working together. That is a good start.

WestJet has no problem operating Swoop where they create smoke and mirrors to pretend to be a different airline within the same group. The should have an easer time with AirTransat. As for the Alberta-Quebec thing, honestly most major Canadian corporations are able to figure that out, these guys should be able to do that as well.

Still unfortunate that WS leadership does not share my enthusiasm for their marriage. They can still sleep in separate bedrooms if they want to as long as from the outside it looks like they are a couple. If KLM and Air France can do it, so can WestJet and AirTransat.

cirrusdragoon

Fair points, but perhaps they can grow it organically. Transat only became what it is today because Canada 3000 disappeared, the same for Canada 3000 when Ward Air went away. They do not need to merge to have a working relationship , to grow their network.

24left

Love this line.

In related news....you guys should take a peek at this thread on the AvCan forum. Only 6 posts as the thread was started today, but each one worth the read.

Anyone see any parallels? -

Also worth the read, is the link in the OP to an article in Canadian Aviation News, "An Air Transat Opportunity", which also discusses a WS-TS.
.

Fiordland

Interesting link. Pilots are thinking about the model of aircraft.

The issue is WestJet does not understand its customer in Quebec. If they did they would have a bigger presence in Montreal than Saskatoon. They need AirTransat to be AirTransat.

cirrusdragoon

Is it a misunderstanding? I think Westjet prioritizes markets where they can earn the most amount of revenue and strengthen their position first and foremost. Quebec is saturated.

Chasing marketshare with excess capacity has never been their focus .


Everyone here seems to have forgotten that WS has literally tried to build up YUL before, borderline having similar capacity as other cities in the network that had focus city status (BOS, Florida, Sun Destinations, 5x daily Encore to YQB, ect). Their is a reason that it is all gone, it didn't work. The lower fares the competition created went to the local carriers as did the traffic. If anyone is insinuating that to be a national carrier they need a strong presence in YUL (or even YOW for that matter) is misguided. If the definition of a national carrier means you need a hub/focus city in every major city/economy in the country then I guess the American Big Three really need to expand there hubs, and have the same ones. It just doesn't work.

Error 601

Quebec is Quebec, they circle the wagons.

In Quebec the local vendor will always have the inside track, a friend has been working in Quebec for fifteen years and their US based employer has to dramatically underbid the local competitors just to get a meeting. Everyone working for them in Quebec and Ottawa is a francophone or fluent but that isn't enough.

I don't see how WestJet/Onex could meaningfully combine such that there are any synergies at all without losing that credibility in the eyes of Quebecers. The first time a western flight attendant makes a good faith but hopeless attempt at French cabin announcements on a supposed AirTransat flight the video will fly through Quebec social media at supersonic speed.

cirrusdragoon

Lets see how Flair does . End of the day , regardless of what language you speak, humans are loyal to their wallets and who is the cheapest deal.

Error 601

WestJet has had no ambition to do anything but match Air Canada fares to the penny in more than a decade.

cirrusdragoon

It is good that there is competition emerging , absolutely.

Fiordland

That is my point (to some extent). WestJet does not know how to position itself in the Quebec market. It has tried several times. We are talking an airline who has asperations of its main European partner being Air France and is not going to be able to operate effectively operate anything on the Montreal-Paris route.

If I was doing it I would keep AirTransat as a separate company (however offer full codeshare, loyalty programs, lounges etc. with WestJet). I would see two roles for AirTransat in a WestJet world:

• Operate the Montreal hub under the AirTransat banner, with crew based in Montreal.
• Sell package tours across Canada using AirTransit flights for departures out of Montreal and WestJet for departures out fo the rest of Canada.

That means:

• AirTransat outside of Quebec can be moved over to westjet.
• Keep its Quebec culture when it comes to customer service etc.

That is the only thing WestJet could do to gain market share in Quebec. If it tries to do it on its own it is not going to get anywhere. Something it clearly has demonstrated.

What I am proposing is not much different than what they are trying to do with the corporate structure of Swoop.