In Maclean’s Business Blog Chris Sorensen goes briefly into the details of Westjet’s plans to enter a new sector of the commercial air industry: Europe. The company plans on instating hundreds of daily flights to Dublin Ireland where consumers can get connecting flights from other airlines once in Europe. However there are multiple potential flaws in this system.
Sorensen points out one potential flaws of WestJet going Trans-Atlantic to which I agree, being that it does not fit into their previous cost structure. WestJet has been known for their Boeing 737 only strategy that provides consistent low cost flights to customers. The problem of instating European flights is that their traditional 737’s could not handle this flight comfortably, and they will need to buy either 767’s or 787’s. This upgrade will incur higher costs for technicians, maintenance and etc. What brings customers to Westjet in the first place is their low cost, with a price increase could they still flourish? He did not however raise the question of consumers transferring airlines once in Dublin, as Dublin is the only European city. It would be much easier to fly on an established European airline and not have to transfer upon arrival.