This blogs makes reference to Chris Sorensen’s external blog:  “WestJet bound for Europe” (http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/11/15/westjet-bound-for-europe/)., Nikola Nedev’s internal blog(https://blogs.ubc.ca/nikolanedev/)

The success of any airline company is closely related to the popularity of the routes they fly on. WestJet was founded on the principle of offering low cost alternatives to popular routes. They were able to do so by removing services and slashing costs. WestJet will soon attempt to move into a new market, the transatlantic flights.

Will WestJet succeed in this new market?

In the past, the company had a very simple strategy, utilizing one type of aircraft, which helped them save a lot of excess cost on parts and personnel training. Nikola Nedev pointed out on his blog that by flying across the Atlantic the company will be forced to change the single fleet strategy, and purchase bigger planes. However this is not entirely correct, according to WestJet the flight time between St. John’s and Dublin – the new proposed route – is approximately the same as the flight time between Calgary and Toronto. Therefore WestJet will be able to still keep its old planes.

In the short term WestJet, will still be able to keep its old planes, however, if they intend on expanding to more European destinations, the single fleet strategy will become useless. I personally believe that WestJet is going in the right direction with looking to expand into more external markets, however Europe might not be the best choice for them.