WestJet’s new Dreamliner flights to Europe challenge Air Canada

WestJet Airlines Ltd. plans to launch non-stop service from Calgary to Dublin, Paris and London’s Gatwick Airport using its first three new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, challenging Air Canada with transatlantic flights that target business passengers and the jet set.

“It’s really important for us to be able to attract what I would call bucket-list travellers, premium leisure travellers and, indeed, a share of business corporate travellers,” WestJet chief executive Ed Sims said in an phone interview from Calgary.

The airline aims to invest roughly $4 billion in new airplanes over the next six or seven years, including 10 Dreamliners, Sims said.

The new routes reflect not just a grab for more would-be Air Canada passengers, but also an attempt to entice new travellers.

“We think the markets here are being very underserved, so I think there’s an opportunity to attract a new generation of travellers,” Sims said.

The wide-body 320-seat Dreamliners include 16 lie-flat seats in a business cabin as well as 24 premium economy seats, as WestJet continues to recast itself as a large intercontinental carrier.

“It’s a real evolution from WestJet being a clone of Southwest (Airlines) to becoming more and more similar in some ways to Air Canada — but trying to differentiate themselves,” said Karl Moore, an aviation expert at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management.

WestJet’s three new routes from Calgary are slated to start in the spring, with sales kicking off Wednesday. The Dreamliner will fly daily between Calgary and Gatwick, four times a week to and from Paris and three times a week to and from Dublin.