Quote:
Originally Posted by FactaNV
I imagine there just isn't enough Dreamliners to go around for a 5-7 day/week route from Winnipeg? It never did make sense that we have to go to Van or Cal first to go to Europe. You'd think it would make way more logistic sense to go to Winnipeg, which is cheaper, 2000km + closer to Europe (for Van anyways), is still a focus airport and has all amenities required for an international route to Europe. Maintenance? Check. Capable of docking? Check. CBSA capabilities? Check. Schedules can be arranged from the daily flights to Winnipeg from both cities anyways for one destination. Say Gatwick or Amsterdam. Same money, spread the load from two jam-packed airports and they pay lower fees. Someone make me CEO of WestJet.
|
Many reasons why YVR and YYC are better than YWG for WestJet European flights:
- Larger O&D traffic from those cities; Calgary has Banff; and Vancouver has Whistler; plus cruise ship traffic to draw travellers.
- Much larger corporate sector in both cities and would be able to fill the premium seats and pay premium fares vs. YWG; in other words, higher yields.
- More connecting passengers to fill the flights (especially from the US) through YVR/YYC than through YWG.
- European airports are slot constrained; financially better for WestJet to use their slots for high yield flights than use a slot for a low yield YWG flight.
- YVR/YYC are larger, more affluent cities than YWG.