WestJet Glasgow Service
 

As this morning's inbound WestJet flight passed over Akro Towers on its way into GLA I thought; "Trans Atlantic in a 737, nice". I know the current 800/900 models are quite capable of undertaking the oceanic passage but my mind keeps returning to the 737's of my youth; Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, and Britannia series 200's as seen from the terraces at Ringway. To bring me up to speed with the capability of WestJet's 737's I've a few questions:

I see a transit time GLA - YHZ of a little over six hours, how do WestJet crew the aircraft to allow for a return trip?
ETOPS arrangements, how does the aircraft route?
Is the aircraft specially configured for the route?
WX diversions at the Scottish end?
Is the aircraft at the edge of its duration envelope?

So many questions :8

Since they operate several days of the week I would presume there's a change of crew. I would imagine that the routing would be via the southern tip of Iceland and Greenland, so sufficient options. Don't know what you mean re WX diversions at the Scottish end. Plenty of airports in Scotland and there's always Belfast too. It would be a standard configuration and well within range limits.

Average flight time eastbound is 4hrs and 50 mins. Westbound 6 hrs.

Having just checked it out on FR24 both eastbound and westbound flights routed further south than even I thought they might have. I guess it meets all the requirements etc.

WestJet 737's are not that uber high density and will operate under ETOPS rules (and equipped) with at least 138 minutes capability for OEI.
They have 3 rows of 'plus' seats in the front of their 738 and has a config of 174Y v the 189Y maximum payload.
The 700 series only seat 134 pax.

ETOPS ''out of the box'' for the new Max is 180 minutes.

Plenty of alternates for a UK arrival if GLA wx is out - I am not sure if the GLA-Halifax is seasonal only in which case winter weather would not be an issue.

Astraeus crews used to do there and back (same crew) with their 737-700's operating LGW-Deer Lake (Newfoundland) with 148 pax.

Air Canada also operate small jets in to LHR on their shorter routes such as St John's. (A319 and 737)

Again I am not sure if WJ or AC operate any flights with a ''there and back crew'' on any of their shorter UK or Ireland routes to/from Canada.
My pal works at LHR for AC so I will ask him.

As HotelTango mentions flight times Eastbound will often be sustainability faster than the planned 6 hours+ when taking advantage of the prevailing upper winds.

Regards
PS
Monarch operated the very first UK airline ETOPS flight to/from MCO Orlando in 1988 with the 757 (via Bangor)

Go back a bit further in time. Sterling Airways, a charter carrier from Denmark at the time, operated by 1969 (way before ETOPS was thought of) regular flights from Copenhagen to Los Angeles with the CARAVELLE ! They routed Copenhagen-Keflavik-Gander-Omaha-Los Angeles. Just one crew change, at Gander. They had previously run the flights with their propeller DC-6Bs, which had been quite capable of an Atlantic crossing from their introduction in the early 1950s. I think Sterling were the first to run "medium range" jets across the North Atlantic.

Don't believe it ? Here's a photo of one at LAX https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/7402490

They also operated Caravelles from Copenhagen to Thailand, via the Middle East, and to Natal in Brazil routing via the Canaries, which last they also served very regularly. Copenhagen to Las Palmas must be further than Glasgow to St Johns Nfld.

Never mind Glasgow! They also fly some "older" 737s from Canada into Gatwick!

Certainly legally possible for a round trip I imagine, as it'd be a similar duty period to many 'Northern Europe - Canary Island' duties. The St. Johns-DUB rotation is even shorter.

To the best of my knowledge there is a crew change at Dublin. That service routes YYZ-YYT-DUB and return, of course. Typically the time in the air YYT-DUB-YYT totals close to nine hours, with a 90-minute turnaround at Dublin in between.