taupo

What is AEF?

PreferBulkhead

I believe they are referring to www.aeforum.net

parnel

Its Kiwi for "IF"

taupo

That's pretty darn close to the truth.

747ER

Interesting, in the span of 3 posts you've nailed me down as a "WJer". I am I suppose but only through observation from afar. I'm actually an expat pining for maple syrup in the jungle but thats neither here nor there. WJ is admittedly a flawed airline with some seriously questionable upper management decisions but at the root seems pretty hardy or am I missing something? AC also seems to have come back with a vengeance and is by most accounts a world class airline.
The interesting dynamic that I see is two very strong companies that from a financial standpoint are probably at least equal but from an employee point of view is much more clouded. WJ has a very strong employee base group but the highly contentious pilot group at AC could still conceivably throw a gorilla into the works.

Canada needs a strong international presence and that is admirably represented by Air Canada but they also need a strong domestic competitor and WJ has nicely filled that role. WJ is no Canadian Airlines. Domestically they are probably close to CAIL's size but have cash in the bank.

That should at least keep AC in check and provide the consumer with an option or two.

ProudEdmontonian

Don't get too full of yourself since there are many, many business people like me who fly WestJet well before they'll set foot in one of your planes.

Cargoagent

I am well aware of that fact. I haven't come on here and called any of our customers clowns though.

LeSabre74

I guess you're all kind of hooped if you want to go any where outside Canada (excepting for WS's handful of US destinations). Do you drag yourself kicking and screaming on an AC plane when you want to go anywhere overseas. Of course, I suspect a lot of WS pax don't hold with goin' to no foreign parts...

ProudEdmontonian

You related to Marie Antoinette? I wouldn't be surprised from the tone of your post.

I fly American carriers when I fly outside of Canada. I may try WestJet to the destinations shown on this thread - because I won't give AC a dime of my business when I don't have to.

Stranger

Hmm... Between AC and US immigration plus a connexion in the US, I would have thought there was little choice.

At least to me there is little choice. But then, I don't live in the wilderness up North.

airbus320

"WestJet Airlines Ltd. has won tentative approval from Transport Canada for longer-haul flights over water. The Calgary-based airline said yesterday that it expects to receive the final federal go-ahead in mid-November for "extended-range twin-engine operation performance standards," or ETOPS. Final approval would clear the way for WestJet to launch its new flights to Hawaii in December. National Bank Financial Inc. analyst David Newman speculated that WestJet's next international expansion could be into Ireland or England, but airline spokeswoman Gillian Bentley said there are no immediate transatlantic plans. Meanwhile, Ms. Bentley said WestJet's Toronto-Charlottetown route will be offered three times a week, down from six originally scheduled. But six weekly Toronto-PEI flights are planned during the busy Dec. 15-Jan. 3 travel slot, she said." G&M

tracon

In the past week WS YVR-HNL flights have made tech stops in SFO and PDX.
Last night they stopped in Eugene.
AFAIK Air Pacific has been making the flight non-stop. At least they did the same day WS stopped in SFO. Both airlines used a -800 that day.

Coffeebean

My guess is as WJ is in the early stages of ETOP's ops, they are subject to more conservative ETOP's limitations.

Air Pacific has 162 seats, with Y having 32 inch pitch. They allow 30kgs per passenger.

WJ has 166 seats with 34 inch throughout. WJ allows 2 pieces at 32kgs a piece.

A full load on WJ will weigh more than a full load on Air Pacific.

This may require WJ to reassess baggage allowance on these flights, esp as AC allows Y passengers 2 bags with a max weight for each bag of 23 kg.

Cargoagent

All of these facts should have been known to your WS cohorts before the first flight ever took off for HNL. If they weren't it shows one more example of a half baked attempt to add a route with equipment not suitable for that route. If they were known and just ignored or downplayed it still shows that there is a problem in the WS exec house. History has shown other carriers have difficulty using the 737 on a route like this without enroute stops at various times of the year. WS isn't going to find some miracle remedy to operate this route non-stop year round without limiting baggage and blocking seats. But I guess it has to find someplace to fly all those new acft to. Marginal routes are all it has left to try, unless of course we see this:

Coming soon to the western triangle, departures every 15 minutes.

Coffeebean

I guess you haven't heard of the -700ER, have you. YYC-HNL non-stop with 136 seats. No other plane on the planet has a 136 seat capacity with that sort of range. You can bet that Boeing is working towards solutions as well. Different fleet type? It's about as different as the 600s are to the 700s and 800's. WJ's managed that quite well.

When WJ started, the company did not push the flight crews and the system. I would assume the same thing is occuring with ETOPs. That will change as months progress.

WJA can decrease luggage a little, but still provide far more than AC does, and things will settle out.

Marginal routes? ACE has 14x a day widebodies from YVR-YYZ and 10 from YYC-YYZ. WJA has 5 and 6, respectively. ACE has 9x daily YYZ-YWG and YYZ-YHZ. WJA has 3 and 4 repectively. If that isn't low hanging fruit, I don't know what is.

There is a ton of expansion opportunity in Canada, just out of YYZ.

Have you ever noticed how much unclaimed baggage there is at AC baggage claims in markets served by CRJ'S? Maybe its because it doesn't all arrive on the same aircraft because of weight and balance issues. Same with Dash 8's. I guess ACE should have figures that out too.

They are pretty smart though. Indy Air failed because of trying to do the high cost, low fare thing with CRJ's. Naturally, AC, with higher costs, is succeeding. They are doing so well with CRJ's that BBD is closing down the 50 seat line and used 50 seaters are a dime a dozen in the marketplace.

We'll see how the 190's do with full loads on trans con flights. , especially the ones that hub bust AC's hubs.