CANJET - One aircraft at a time

[Kip Powick]

CanJet Airlines chief operating officer Julie Gossen is content to slowly expand Canada's third-largest scheduled carrier, adding one plane at a time and gradually extending flights into Western Canada.

For the Halifax-based discount airline, Jetsgo Corp.'s grounding has been a godsend in a tale of the CanJet tortoise beating the Jetsgo hare.

CanJet's conservative growth strategy contrasts sharply with Jetsgo founder Michel Leblanc's decision to burst out of the gates with an expansion that proved to be too ambitious and ended with the Montreal-based carrier filing for bankruptcy protection last month.

Today, as Jetsgo seeks to comply with Transport Canada's safety deadline for updating training manuals and procedures, Ms. Gossen will be fine-tuning CanJet's expansion into Western Canada and examining other opportunities.

"You have to manage your growth. You have to get familiar with your surroundings and people," Ms. Gossen said from Halifax.

CanJet, whose slogan is Fly Smart, begins Toronto-Calgary service May 16 and launches the Toronto-Vancouver route June 27.

With the move into the West, CanJet's fleet will grow to nine Boeing 737-500s serving 16 Canadian and U.S. destinations.

That's a far cry from Jetsgo's fleet of 29 aircraft serving 30 destinations, but Jetsgo's planes are grounded while CanJet is still in business.

Both companies started with just three planes, with Jetsgo launching on June 12, 2002, and CanJet starting flights the next week. Mr. Leblanc, 58, is seeking to revive Jetsgo this summer.

"It's tough going to start up an airline. I'm sure that Mr. Leblanc will have a lot of challenges, but he's an experienced entrepreneur," said Ms. Gossen, 42, who grew up around airplanes.

Her father is Ken Rowe, 71, owner of Halifax-based conglomerate IMP Group International Inc., which owns CanJet and has been in the aviation services sector since 1967.

Mr. Rowe helped launch the first version of CanJet in September, 2000, and sold the carrier to Canada 3000 in the spring of 2001, but Canada 3000 shut down operations in November of that year.

Ms. Gossen, who holds an MBA from Saint Mary's University in Halifax, joined IMP in 1983 as a clerk in the company's aviation division, working her way up to jobs such as manager of the Halifax jet base.

Prior to joining CanJet for its re-launch in mid-2002, she had been a key IMP manager overseeing a variety of holdings such as hotels. Her two brothers, Kirk and Stephen Rowe, also hold IMP management jobs. Ms. Gossen, who oversees 400 employees, reports directly to her father. With CanJet nearing its third anniversary, she said dad has been pleased with the airline's steady progress.

"He shares his wisdom from time to time," Ms. Gossen said. "The overall plan is for steady growth, one airplane at a time. If we feel that we can generate more revenue to exceed our costs, we'll put in an airplane at that time, after marketing and strategic planning. We have to be taut."

Isabelle Dostaler, a business strategy professor at Concordia University in Montreal, said CanJet is carving a niche in Canada's airline industry, which includes chartered service offered by Skyservice Airlines Inc. and Transat A.T. Inc.

"Mr. Leblanc has this plan of restarting with a reduced fleet, but we don't know if that would be scheduled or chartered service. So at present, there is certainly an opportunity for CanJet, and remember that the summer season is very good for aviation," Prof. Dostaler said.

Some industry observers estimate that in Atlantic Canada, Air Canada dominates with 60 per cent of the market, but CanJet's regional share of nearly 20 per cent is believed to be slightly ahead of Calgary-based WestJet Airlines Ltd.

Nationally, given CanJet's small leased fleet of 737-500s, each seating 120 passengers, the airline's domestic market share is estimated at less than 3 per cent. Jetsgo had more than 6 per cent of the Atlantic market and 8 per cent nationally.

"We like to grow sensibly," Ms. Gossen said. "The more aircraft you have, the more you can spread your overhead costs, but there's only so much demand for flying."

Prof. Dostaler said CanJet could capitalize on its strength in Atlantic Canada, where many Newfoundlanders use CanJet.

Ms. Gossen confirmed that she had Newfoundlanders in mind when CanJet devised plans for the Toronto-Calgary route. CanJet's studies showed that many passengers would start off in St. John's, fly to Toronto and then transfer onto rival carriers to get to Calgary.

"A lot of Newfoundlanders go to Calgary, so it's a natural progression for us," she said, expressing hopes of attracting some of the oil workers who travel frequently between the Alberta city and St. John's.