WestJet aims to offer 40% cheaper fares with new ultra-low-cost carrier 'Swoop’
The carrier to be launched next summer will charge fees for everything from carry-on luggage to in-flight entertainment and advertising within the cabin is not off-limits
http://business.financialpost.com/transp...es-with-new-ultra-low-cost-carrier-swoop
WestJet Airlines said it will offer fares that are 40 per cent cheaper than those currently available in Canada as it unveiled new details about Swoop, the ultra-low-cost carrier it plans on launching next summer.
After months of behind-the-scenes planning, WestJet revealed the new name and logo of its no-frills carrier, which will operate as a separate and distinct brand within the WestJet family. Swoop is expected to start selling discounted tickets in early 2018 and will begin flying passengers on six Boeing 737-800s in late June of 2018.
Bob Cummings, WestJet’s executive vice-president responsible for the launch of the new ultra-low-cost carrier, said in an interview with the Financial Post on Tuesday that Swoop will boast the lowest cost per available seat mile (CASM), a measure of how much an airline spends to fly passengers, within less than a year of launching.
“What we modelled out from an ultra-low-cost carrier perspective is that when we reach 10 aircraft (in spring 2019) and scale economies, we will have the lowest cost of any Canadian ULCC,” Cummings said.
While the company announced that Swoop’s headquarters will be located in Calgary, Alta., the same home base as WestJet, the list of markets the airline will serve has yet to be finalized. Cummings confirmed that Swoop will fly in and out of the Abbotsford Airport, located southeast of Vancouver, and that there are ongoing discussions with major airports in Canada as well as the Hamilton, Waterloo and Windsor airports. The goal, he said, is it launch progressive partnerships with airports that will also “repatriate some of the Canadians going across the border” to access cheaper flights.