Canadian Consolidation: WestJet Acquires Sunwing

If WestJet is finally able to provide legitimate competition to Air Canada, from the most discounted seasonal leisure sun destinations to transoceanic longhaul business destinations, they will have done what no other airline has been able to do and sustain in Canada without being bought out by Air Canada.

There are also indications that WestJet is not scheduling as many LGA-YYZ flights in the future as it has in the past which could indicate they are going to give another try to a joint venture with Delta.

"including everything from Boeing 737s to Boeing 787s"

Man, there's a LOT that could possibly fall in between but the reality is they have a small range of aircraft in their fleet. Just say, "including Saab 340s, De Havilland Dash 8s, Boeing 737s and Boeing 787s". /s

@ Todd -- Fair point, thanks, will update the post to reflect that.

It's Canadian anti-competition consolidation. The majority of Canadian travellers pay cash, fly on LCCs or ULCCs, as part of a package to a sun destination or to Europe in summer. They don't "choose" an airline, they buy a vacation package on price on sunwing, iTravel2000, WestjetVacations, exit.ca or similar websites. Westjet's business model depends on success in this segment. Unlike on the US3, Westjet's "Business" travel sales depend on customers who don't mind that they get no useful points, don't mind that there's nothing to upgrade to, don't mind that the carrier's direct competitor offers all these advantages for the same price. So Westjet takes leisure sales very seriously and sunwing has been their biggest competitor at the low end. It's a smart move and it's interesting as a major move in the industry. I just encourage readers to avoid the temptation to think of Westjet as a proper airline like AA, Delta, BA, AC (whatever you think of them, and who doesn't?). Westjet is an LCC with lots of lipstick. No Business Class in nearly all of their flights, insulting loyalty program, no Alliance. For PointsMiles people, this deal is a nothingburger. For Canadians who take package vacations, the price will go up.

man, this sucks for us Canadians now. with less competition, we gotta pay higher prices now grr

I am most interested to know what will happen to my close to $6000 credit with Sunwing which I have held with them since November 2019 due to a cancellation of a package with them where I had purchased their “worry free cancellation” insurance.

I suspect this will be bad news for smaller markets like Winnipeg where Sunwing offered a great variety of direct flight vacation packages to sunspots in the winter. “CalgaryJet” offers some direct flights but nowhere near as many, and although Calgary is a nice city, I’m not convinced that spending a night in the airport while waiting for a connecting flight the next morning is the best way to see Calgary and definitely not how I want to start a winter vacation. Much like the telecommunications industry in Canada, larger players are devouring smaller players which results in less competition, fewer options, and higher prices. These things never end well for the consumer.

Sunwing is not and never was an "ultra low cost" carrier. On board services, customer service is better than the national full-price embarrassment that is Air Canada.

Its a packaged vacation carrier

Compare the "full price" on AC with the air-only price on Sunwing for the same day of travel. Compare the pax experience of a traveller who has 25k status on AC: lounges, checkin, seats, eUps. AC is awful in their own unique way and I bristle when I have to fly them. But it's hard to take seriously any carrier whose fleet utilization is so high that if a plane goes mechanical one is stranded for days. I agree AC is an embarrassment. But that doesn't make Sunwing or Westjet non-awful.

Is the defendant also the underwriter?
Now that's conflict of interests.

West jet - worst ever! Even wors then a Ryanair.
Bunch of assholes . Never will fly again.

With AS not flying into YLW we flew Westjet to PVR last November. Well over double the price but at least we didn't have three countries to contend with. Flew premium which was really a waste of money but better than AS "first".

With the reduced schedule of AS into YLW overnight in SEA both ways is a must but the savings are still there especially with a mattress run included.

Sunwing flew directly to PVR in the past so this might be a better option. We'll see but probably have to hold nose while airborne.

Cut up my Westjet credit card years ago and sent it to their CEO. Never heard a word back.
I could not believe the constant poor uncaring service !
Good riddance to what I hoped would be a game changer. Now I am back to Air Canada.
So far, so good !