I don't necessarily see Encore and Mainline as being in competition. Encore serves many markets that are simply not suitable for a 737 service and help to feed passengers onto those jets. The fact that some of the 737 routes were transferred to the Q400 simply means the route was better served by the smaller aircraft and that frees up a 737 to go somewhere else the Q400 can't (either because of range or size).
If all WestJet did was keep the LCC model with both the 737 and Q400, things would go swimmingly.
Swoop, on the other hand, is using the same aircraft on a relatively similar route segment. I doubt highly that WestJet is about to abandon the YVR-YYZ sector when Swoop starts YXX-YHM, yet they're damned near the same route for a lot of passengers going somewhere in the western GTA. The company is definitely competing against itself for the same passenger. I can't wait for the first IROP when a teal coloured tail is pushed into service for a pink coloured one, or vice versa. I may even send that pic to the WJ MEC, buy some popcorn and a lawn chair, and sit back and watch the fireworks.
The biggest problem WestJet has right now is they are abandoning more than just the LCC model. I don't know how many years it took them, but it was a long time from when they started to when they first operated sectors out of YYZ. They've always been the slow-build airline, and that is what has brought 51 quarters of profit. Now they're trying to finish building a regional airline, at the same time as they are building a ULCC, at the same time they are trying to build a long-haul segment, as well as the infrastructure that goes along with this massive expansion. I hope not, but the Calgary Airport Authority might be moving into an unused hangar just as the GTAA did if things do go down the wrong path.
Maybe this new CEO will put the brakes on some of this expansion after he realizes it is far easier to lose a billion than make a million in aviation.
But then, if anyone can do it, WestJet can, right?
