tcook052

WS is closing in completing its acquisition of Sunwing and as I'd expected Sunwing's control over many hotels & resorts throughout the Caribbean were key factors:

The deal will be a boost to WestJet’s sun destination operations. Sunwing owns 45 hotels in tourism destinations throughout Mexico and the Caribbean but relies mainly on leasing planes. WestJet, meanwhile, did not previously operate its own hotels but provided flights to destinations.

Sopwith

I booked next year’s trip on AC for the first time in years. Didn’t want to take a chance on the uncertainty.

Error 601

Having just had my first J trip on an Air Canada 737-8 and being utterly underwhelmed, I am going to wait and see what the WestJet Dreamliners are up to come Christmas.

V1213

WestJet Group completes acquisition of Sunwing

The acquisition is now complete. Some key points from the media release:

• Sunwing will initially continue to operate separately
• The transaction adds 18 737s to the overall WestJet Group fleet
• "...the Vacations Business expects to facilitate new flying and new employment opportunities by retaining Sunwing’s aircraft in Canada year-round.."

sgrunt

WestJet to shut down Sunwing Airlines, merge it with mainline business

Given the Swoop news, this isn't exactly a surprise either.

newfbc

WestJet to shut down Sunwing Airlines, merge it with mainline business
WestJet is planning to wind down Sunwing Airlines, integrating the low-cost carrier into its mainline business within two years as part of a plan to streamline operations.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...ines-1.6880320

Ron.

edwardian

https://www.wingsmagazine.com/sunwing/

This article refers to "WestJet will eventually move to a one jet aircraft operating certificate (AOC) model..." does this mean that WestJet will be moving away from the 787 altogether as well as the Q400?

This seems crazy when they are busily launching new routes for their 787 out of YYC.

Maybe I'm missing something.

YYCguy

This confused me as well. Anybody here who might be able to shed some light on this?

Frequentlander

I *think* it means a singer operating certificate that allows a single business entity (The merged Westjet) to operates "jets", ie 7x7s or Airbus or whatever. Turbofans and turboprops qualify.

V1213

This is my impression, too.

It's ambiguous English as it can be interpreted as "one-jet AOC" (a single type of jet on the AOC), or "one jet-AOC" (one AOC for jets, other AOCs for not-jets). I assume it's the latter.

aerobod

All WS aircraft are under a single AOC for the 737-700, 737-800, 737 MAX 8 and 787, the 737-600s may still be on it and the MAX 10s should be added. The WO and WG 737-800s and MAX 8s can be covered by it. WE will stay with a separate AOC, as the Q400 isn't included in the WS one. The "Air Operator Certificate" is for the company's certification to operate specific aircraft types, as opposed to being attached to a specific aircraft type.

FlyerJ

No vacation charter airline or ULCC has much brand equity … their customers are the 1x per year vacation fliers who buy based on (1) cheapest price and (2) non-stop destinations being offered. Those consumers tend not to care about the brand or its history (perhaps good, given Sunwing’s horrendous meltdowns this past winter where they stranded people everywhere and cancelled families’ vacations). The brand? Little to no value. The business, other than physical assets? Ditto.

Which makes me wonder … why exactly did WS buy Sunwing? What was the value to Westjet?

When the brand goes away, WS is left with planes and crews. That seems to be most of what they purchased in this deal — other than some sun destination hotel arrangements that I believe are somewhat unique

Was this simply a play to quickly and easily build up their fleet — cheaper or easier than shopping for a bunch of new aircraft? Was it easier to buy employees rather than to recruit and hire from scratch? Was it for the packaged holiday hotel hook-up … that’s somewhat removed from the core business of being an airline?

Why?

FlyerJ

Separate question:

IIRC, part of Sunwing’s ability to be low cost was dependent on their ability to bring in foreign pilots - to build capacity at peak season - under the Temporary Foreign Worker program??

aerobod

Overall the more valuable asset in the WestJet acquisition of Sunwing is Sunwing Vacations. Although the company revenues are private, it is likely that the airline business itself is about a $1bn operation with likely little profit, based on fleet size, the vacation business is likely a larger revenue source with higher margins. Effectively the vacation business gives a captive flight market for packages, blocking other ULCCs from competing for those specific vacationers, as they wouldn’t pay more for a separate flight to a sun destination when it is already included in a package.

TUI Group’s sale of their 49% stake in Sunwing Airlines and Vacations allows them to concentrate on their core European operations that have had challenges since the start of Covid. The seasonal lift TUI provided to Sunwing can easily be integrated into the WS schedule, better utilizing the fleet in the winter. Transat and AC Vacations are the ones who should worry most about WS and Sunwing being a single entity, in my opinion.

YYCfasha

Doesn’t Sunwing also own a few hotels or is it TUI?