WestJet Airlines is a Canadian airline that offers scheduled flights to approximately 71 destinations in the USA, Mexico, Canada, as well as the Caribbean. This airline was founded in 1996 and serves as Canada’s low cost alternative carrier. WestJet currently comes in only second to Air Canada in terms of being the largest airline in Canada and typically runs about 400 flights daily.
WestJet uses the Boeing 737 Next Generation as it’s only type of plane within its fleet. The main headquarters as well as WestJet’s main hub are based out of Calgary International Airport, located in Alberta, Canada. The second largest hub is found in Ontario, at the Toronto Pearson International Airport. WestJet employs nearly 8000 employees and is a publicly owned company. However, unlike many other airlines in the industry, WestJet is not a member of the union. WestJet brings in an estimated $2.5 billion in passenger fares every year.
Originally, WestJet was based out of the western portion of Canada, which is where it got it’s name, and was founded on the same model as Southwest Airlines and Morris Air out of the US. The very first WestJet flight to take off was in the year 1996. At the time the airline served only Edmonton, Vancouver, Kelowna, and Winnipeg, using only three planes, and about 250 employees.
Over the next several years WestJet continued to grow and add new destinations as well as thousands of new employees, and hundreds of planes, making it the major airline it is today.
Air Transat was founded by former employees, as well as managers of Quebecair, in 1986 and has since grown to serve approximately 2.5 million passengers every year. Air Transat is considered a budget airline and travels to different parts of the world, depending on the time of year. For example, during the summer months, passengers of Air Transat may be flown to places like France, Germany, England, and many other parts of Europe. However, during the winter months destinations typically include places like Mexico, South America, and the USA. Overall about 90 countries are serviced by Air Transat.
The main base for Air Transat is located at the Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport, however there are hubs located in Toronto at the Toronto Pearson International Airport, as well as in Vancouver at the Vancouver International Airport. In addition Air Transat has operations in other places such as Quebec/Jean Lesage International Airport and Calgary International Airport.
Air Transat is one of the only airlines in Canada that utilizes all wide body planes in it’s fleet, and one of only 9, globally. During the life of Air Transat there have only been two incidents in which there was some sort of mechanical failure that caused pilots to make emergency landings. In both incidences, all of the passengers and crew members survived without injury. In most cases, Air Transat offers very good discounts when advanced reservations are obtained online or by telephone. This is a very good airline for anyone wishing to fly at a reduced cost and still enjoy the peace of mind that the airline is sound in terms of it’s history of safe flights.
Air Canada is the largest airline in Canada and carries the Canadian flag as its logo. Founded in 1936, this airline offers passenger, as well as cargo transportation to about 180 destinations globally. The largest Air Canada Hub is located in Ontario at Toronto Pearson International Airport. However, the main base is located in Quebec’s Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport. Air Canada is also the seventh largest passenger airline in the world according to the amount of fleets they have. They are also the founder of the airline alliance, which contains 26 different airlines, that was formed in 1997 called Star Alliance.
Air Canada takes in an estimated $10 billion dollars in passenger revenue each year and is owned by a company called ACE Aviation Holdings. The main headquarters are located in Montreal, Quebec in the St. Laurent district. Air Canada was originally called Trans Canada Airlines but was renamed in 1965 after receiving the approval of the government. The airline was owned and operated by the Canadian government until the 1980’s when it went to private ownership. It wasn’t until the year 2001 that Air Canada had competition on a large scale by new comer Canadian Airlines. Air Canada had a whopping 34 million riders in 2006 upon celebrating their 70th birthday.
Today, Air Canada provides holiday packages to approximately 100 destinations, in addition to operating an average of 1500 daily scheduled flights, with its regional partners combined. The airline typically offers great discounts through advanced ticket sales, obtained online.
