WestJet launches first overseas flight
New Ottawa connector being added when St. John’s to Dublin flights begin
WestJet Airlines Ltd. made the surprise announcement Friday it will begin a new daily flight next summer across the Atlantic connecting St. John’s and Dublin, Ireland, with its 737-700 aircraft.
The flight will be a significant milestone for WestJet, marking its first salvo into the European market on its own. It’s a fitting first flight as well, connecting the two countries once again that hosted the first non-stop transatlantic flight in 1919.
WestJet does have a series of partnerships with European carriers, including British Airways, Air France/ KLM, and Alitalia, which allows its passengers to transfer onto its partners’ planes across the ocean.
But, while the airline has publicly contemplated buying larger aircraft to accommodate travel across the ocean, the flight to Dublin next summer will be WestJet’s first solo venture across the Atlantic.
“WestJet’s innovative foray into the European market represents a willingness to do what it takes to connect Canadians to the world while bringing the world to Canada. From Dublin, guests can access low-cost flights to more than 100 cities in Europe,” said Chris Avery, WestJet vicepresident of network planning, alliances, and corporate development.
David Tyerman, Canaccord Genuity analyst, said the news will likely cause some excitement. But he cautioned it is not the start of a major international expansion simply because WestJet’s fleet of 737s lack the necessary range.
“To truly go global, (WestJet) will need a long-haul aircraft,” he said in a note to clients. “We think they will eventually do this, but they have said they want to follow their low-cost approach, which likely means they would need (Boeing) 787s or (Airbus) A350s.”
But he noted neither of those planes are easy to come by with 787 delivery slots largely spoken for and the A350 not yet in production.
He said he believed it would be three to five years before a true global expansion occurs at WestJet.
“They are likely to focus on building out the Encore regional initiative and further their U.S. penetration as their major expansions for now,” Tyerman said. “It is probably best to view the St John’s to Dublin route like (WestJet) adding another Canada to Caribbean city pair — i.e., nice but not terribly material in the scheme of things.”
The nearly 4,300 kilometres between St. John’s and Dublin is well within the range of the 737-700, which Boeing says can fly as far as 6,370 km.
The aircraft used on the new route will originate in Toronto, offering a one-stop connection to Dublin from Canada’s largest city. WestJet will also be adding a new daily nonstop connecting service from Ottawa to help feed traffic into the route.
WestJet said the flight will take roughly as long as it takes to fly from Toronto to Calgary.
The new route to Dublin will begin June 15, 2014, and carry on through to Oct. 5., 2014.
It will also pit WestJet against Air Canada’s new lowcost carrier, Rouge, which flew between Toronto and Dublin last summer and plans to expand it service to a year-round offering in May.