Speedboat, you're hilarious...West jet can do alot, but you can't just re-write history!
What are you smoking??!?
" Revenues completely collapsed as Canadi>n had no choice but to match fares on all of its western capacity to stay competitive with WJ's small, but rapidly expanding capacity. Any let would have caused WJ to have expanded even faster than they already had"
Wrong. Westjet had THREE aircraft in 1996, and Canadian's problems go back 20 years of competing with Air Canada...when Canadian was purchased by Air Canada, they had never officially ceased operation, and had a competing bid to be bought by Onex..Canadian and Air Canada were running half empty aircraft against each other for years before Westjet came to be. I don't care how fast Westjet expanded, they didn't have enough capacity to put Canadian out of business...they were barely a factor against an INTERNATIONAL airline....
Canadian's most profitable route was Asia, this was always the case....Why do you think Air Canada wanted those routes / rights so bad? The Asia economic downturn of 1998 had a DEVASTATING effect on Canadian's bottom line...(about the time Westjet added places like Abbotsford and Thunder Bay!)
Also, in its last few years of operation, at a bad time, Canadian Airlines extended its international route network even more in Asia, with expansion of service to Malaysia and the Philippines. At that time Canadian Airlines had the distinction of flying to more places in Asia, more often, than any other Canadian carrier.
Yeah, but it was Westjet. With their 3 planes that put the nail in the coffin!!!
You should recognize the management problems and history of mergers and competition with Air Canada, rather than spew garbage...Canadian aviation can be interesting, and we can all learn from it, as long as we don't make @$@#$ up!
As for C3000, I don't want to go there, but I think you have to respect other factors as well...like LeBlanc's crappy deal he gave on Royal was a huge factor...C3's plan was to eliminate / own Royal at any cost, and it cost them huge! Westjet wasn't as much of a factor as you state! Alot of Westjet's expansion success was rising from the ashes of 9/11, as it was 9/11 that pushed C3 over the edge...Its like your time line is all screwed up..
You can't just give Westjet all the credit for the failure of other airlines, its overly simplistic and pompous...You should, in my opinion, observe and appreciate the success of Westjet without losing sight of the big picture...
As Westjet expands, it has done an impressive job of maintaining its cost structure. However, they could never offer the same fares now as they did in their infancy, and Air Canada has also done an impressive job of keeping the pressure on...Re-inventing their cost structure even WITH all their legacy headaches...Last few times I booked AC, they were cheaper!!!!
So I wish Westjet luck as well...Maybe they'll take over the world next, and put some of the really big players out of business!
Smoke another one! Back to Enerjet! I wish them luck...
Later
Last edited by 4-Daned; 4th Jan 2009 at 21:30.