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Hamilton eyes new WestJet regional airline

WestJet has confirmed a new no-frills regional service.

Kaz Novak/The Hamilton Spectator Source: The Hamilton Spectator

February 9, 2012
WestJet confirmed Wednesday it will launch a low-fare, no-frills regional airline, intensifying competition in smaller domestic markets with rival Air Canada for business and leisure class travellers.

“It’s the next logical step in WestJet’s evolution,” president and CEO Gregg Saretsky said in a conference call Wednesday.

Saretsky said he couldn’t yet say when the fleet will be delivered, nor announce market destinations or an exact launch date.

Hamilton airport officials have already been in talks with WestJet to bring the new regional service to Hamilton International.

Saretsky said employees of WestJet voted 91 per cent in favour of launching the regional carrier.

“This is the biggest game-changer in Canadian aviation since WestJet was founded in 1996,” said Robert Kokonis, president of airline consulting firm AirTrav Inc.

It’s good for travellers, who will have more choice, he said. “The biggest winner clearly, upfront, is the consumer.”

There are communities across the country where they’re only being served by Jazz or by other carriers and could benefit from some competition, Kokonis said.

Communities that WestJet doesn’t currently serve include Medicine Hat, Alta., Brandon, Man., and Fredericton and Saint John, N.B., he said.

Kokonis said Air Canada is a “very robust” competitor and will take on WestJet.

http://www.thespec.com/print/article/667968