WestJet shows Calgary the love
WestJet CALGARY talked commitment up Airlines his • The to company’s its CEO home Ltd. of base event launch on celebrating Thursday of the the at airline’s a imminent special new invited offered Speaking Dreamliner guests a first to reporters — service. glimpse who were and of the 787 scheduled aircraft company’s service before first to it Toronto Boeing begins next service week to and London-Gatwick international April WestJet Dreamliner 28 — chose CEO hub Calgary Ed because Sims as said its it believes under-served the market when is currently it comes to flying. wide-body, He said international WestJet’s which new will Dreamliner also include service, flights to Paris this and spring Dublin and summer, beginning will convenient offer Calgarians departure, arrival more any and other connection airline. times than
to fit “Calgary into schedules has typically designed had around other airlines’ home bases,” Sims said. “Our evening flight times are designed to suit Calgarians, first and foremost. The rest of the world can fit around us.”
WestJet — which will take delivery of its second and third Dreamliners in February and March — will take possession of a total of 10
787s by 2021, with an option to buy 10 more. Hub locations and routes for the remaining seven aircraft have not yet been announced.
According to the airline, its international scheduled service between Calgary and London-Gatwick, Paris and Dublin will support 650 fulltime jobs and $100 million in total economic output. The three new flights from Europe are expected to bring up to 185,000 visitors to Calgary you, “These Calgary,” on a yearly aircraft Sims basis. said. are for
WestJet’s decision to make Calgary the home base for its Dreamliner service cannot be underestimated, said Rick Erickson, a Calgary-based independent aviation analyst.
“This is going to translate into tens of millions of dollars of economic activity that’s going to occur in our city that wouldn’t otherwise occur,” Erickson said. “We will have new passengers coming and going from all of these new international destinations this aircraft is capable of reaching.”
Erickson said WestJet’s decision to move into the wide-body international space is an “aggressive” one, and he acknowledged that some industry watchers have questioned if the airline is trying to grow too big, too fast. But he said the domestic market in Canada is simply too small for WestJet to continue with the status quo.
“I know some of the analysts were sort of naysayers about what was going on, but really, there comes a time and a place where if you want to grow the airline, you don’t have a choice,” Erickson said.