CanadaEH

That's the plan.

The tail is growing on me. I don't like the WestJet font.

Malcom I seriously question whether you are horribly ignorant or brilliantly trolling this forum.

The comparison cannot be base fare to base fare - it's not how airlines price their service.

You're right WestJet has changed. Some people made suggestions and guesses - some were wrong, some were right. WestJet today/tomorrow isn't the WestJet of yesterday. Not sure what point you're trying to make? On the surface it's easy to suggest there are similarities of WS vs. AC circa 2002 or whatever and Flair vs. Swoop/WestJet. I say there isn't. Back then AC's costs were around 40% higher than WJ. Back then AC was losing billions of dollars a year. Back then AC launched Tango and Zip - really, just repainting some planes and not doing much else to lower costs (I stand to be corrected, I don't recall any initiatives that drove lower costs for either). Back then pricing was more or less all-in - none of the ancillary fees you see today. The environment today is very much stripped down. In the ULCC space - a space that hasn't been touched since Flair started operating - you pay for a seat and that's it. What's it worth? I don't know the answer. But everything else costs money - a drink, your bag, a boarding pass, a change fee, preferred seat, etc. Swoops costs are significantly lower than WJ's and in-line with Flairs. I watched back in 2004-2005 when Jetsgo decimated the Canadian industry. People criticized WJ for taking too long to react to the competition (Jetsgo). The launch of Flair and others (Jetlines? Whatever the Enerjet is attempting to launch as) forced WJ to react. WestJet couldn't compete with Flair - it's costs are too high (there's a similarity for you!). Launching Swoop was a competitive move to be competitive and open up a new market. I'll be the first person to admit I am wrong if Flair succeeds in its suit. I just don't see it happening.

Airline vs. Airline. Whether it's ULCC LCC or Legacy - doesn't matter. Different streams of revenue. Given the snapshot of now, with the airlines mentioned - Swoop vs. Flair - you need to look at the structure of pricing. This isn't WestJet vs. Air Canada circa 2003 or whatever. Completely different time.

Who is talking about base fare vs base fare? Have you not seen the landscape change? It's not about base fare. If you think it is you're missing the point.

I'm sure there are a lot of people creaming in their pants at this. How do you call out anti-competitive behaviour accusing below cost base fares not accounting for ancillary revenue - bag fees, seat selection, etc.? There's a difference between this and the previous claims of WJ vs. AC. Not even close.

Nevermind, just searched Twitter... "Calgary Police are investigating a suspicious package at the Calgary International Airport. Arrivals and departures from gates 13 to 17 are shut down. Police are getting proper teams in place to determine what the package is. #yyc"

According to YYC on Twitter there is an incident at the airport. Anyone know what? https://twitter.com/FlyYYC/status/1071924222736326657

Bingo. YHM can't support short haul flights. Great for vacation destinations though.

What does that have to do with the topic of "WestJet 787"? Again... Malcolm.... I just don't think you get it.

ULCC is the new LCC.

I'm not looking to pick a fight or take sides - please do not misinterpret what I'm about to say. Overpay a CEO and you're only overpaying for one person. Overpay a workforce - pilots, office workers, maintenance, CSA's, whoever - and you're overpaying for a lot more than one person. Has anyone looked at airline CEO wages and compared them? Honest question - people complain about CEO's making too much but compared to market median - are they? (this isn't about what you think they should make, by the way - topic for another day). When it comes to costs, you can't argue that salaries and benefits are at or near the top of the expenses of an airline. Fuel has typically been the highest closely followed by salaries. It's a natural target from a visibility standpoint. It's easy to look at a workforce of 10,000 and say "no raises for you" or "you're pay is in line with the market". Might shave a couple million off your payroll in savings but the millions saved are wasted by bad decisions at the Executive level or higher Management levels. All well intentioned decisions but that doesn't mean they were "right" or "smart" or "well executed". That, to me, is where good-will has and is lost - "taking one for the team" (to use your phrase) only to see that **bleep** away elsewhere. Especially when executives leave and get compensated very handsomely to do so. I think there are lot of employees that sacrificed something over the years for the betterment of the company. Some do it for the financial benefit and some do it because they're good, well-intentioned people. When the times are good - bonuses, profit share, share growth, etc. all make up for it. When the times are bad -- well. Attitudes change. Back to your initial response about pricing out of the market. It's not about hiring someone better at math, it's about changing an entire global industry. Do you really see that changing? I keep hearing about global pilots shortages so maybe the movement is already happening. I don't know. I also don't see a diminishing appetite for rock bottom pay-nothing airfares. In fact, I see the opposite. I was in line at Best Buy the other day and this guy in front of me was complaining to his buddy about how he is paying $350 to fly round trip from Vancouver to Calgary at Christmas. So hard done by, the guy was considering not even going to Calgary for Christmas ("I can't afford to visit the family for 4 days at that price"). The guy who was spending $600 on video games was complaining about paying $350 to fly round trip at the busiest time of the year. Let that sink in for a minute.

I get spare planes being a necessity (and agree) but I don't see why parking a FLEET of 4 planes makes sense. Maybe knock the utilization down a bit if it's too aggressive but I think we already have since Year 1.