The Bombardier CSeries, or Airbus A220, is a Canadian success story of innovation, perseverance, and...
...taxpayer money, depending on who you ask.
Nevertheless, it is a clean sheet aircraft in the lucrative 100-150 seat market, a market
segment which had, until recently, been largely ignored by aerospace giants Airbus and Boeing.
Among other benefits, the aircraft has the widest economy class seats of any new aircraft
today, and it remains very popular with passengers around the world.
However, with over 100 aircraft now in regular service across the globe,
the question should be asked.
This being a home-grown aircraft, why hasn’t Canada’s second largest airline ordered some?
Well, ignoring the fact that humanity is on pause for the moment, there are a couple reasons
for and against a potential WestJet A220.
First things first though, I do want to stress this is purely speculation, I don’t claim
to have any inside knowledge of WestJet’s future plans or anything like that, this is
more just a fun “what if” type of video.
So, with that in mind, let’s break down WestJet’s fleet in terms of capacity.
At the smaller end, we’ve got the WestJet Link Saab 340s with 34 seats, followed by
the WestJet Encore Dash 8-400s, with 78.
Next up, there’s the mainline WestJet 737 family, ranging from the 113 seater 737-600,
to the 134-seat 737-700, and the 174 seat 737-800 and MAX 8.
The 767s seat 262 and the 787s seat 320, but the A220 doesn’t really compare with the
widebodies, or the Saab 340s for that matter, so we’ll eliminate those for the time being.
The A220 is offered in two variants, the -100, and the -300.
In a standard two-class configuration like WestJet has, the A220-100 carries 100 to 120 passengers.
The slightly larger A220-300 can fly anywhere from 120 to 150.
Of course, this video’s very question has been asked of WestJet in the past, and they’ve
taken a few different stances on the aircraft over the years.
In 2016, then-CEO Gregg Saretsky said that the CSeries was too small for WestJet’s
mainline service, and that it was “kind of the size we're getting rid of”, referring
to some older 737-700s being sold to Southwest at the time.
Back then, WestJet had 25 737 MAX 7s and 40 MAX 8s on order, and the MAX 7 was seen as
a key component of their future fleet.
They were even planning to take delivery of 5 MAX 7s in 2019.
However, that was 2016 WestJet.
By early 2019, those 5 deliveries had been delayed to 2021.
Current CEO Ed Sims has said that they’re now focusing on the MAX 8, saying that they
could still convert the MAX 7 orders into MAX 8s or MAX 10s.
Now, in theory, the A220 could slot right into the capacity region that’s currently
occupied by the 737-600s and -700s, with the improved economics that come with a clean-sheet design.
Keep in mind, the 737 MAX 7 is actually slightly larger than its Next Generation equivalent,
so it wouldn’t necessarily be a one-for-one replacement.
Hence, the A220 could make for the perfect 737-600 and -700 successor.
However, WestJet actually owns all of their 737-600s outright, and about half of the -700s.
The rest of the 737-700s and a few of the -800s as well, are leased.
With that in mind, they’ll want to get their money’s worth out of those aircraft.
The -600s, on average, are 14 years old, and some of the -700s are just 9 years old, so
in reality, their retirement isn’t likely to happen anytime soon.
But let’s say those aircraft are eventually retired.
Without any direct replacement, there’ll be a noticeable gap in capacity in the future
WestJet fleet between the Encore Dash 8s and the MAX 7.
While the general market trend towards larger aircraft is very much true, as we’ve seen
with the A321neo and the aforementioned 737 MAX 10, there is one thing about Canada that
we need to consider.
As the second largest country in the world by land area, Canada is very sparsely populated.
Larger aircraft like the MAX 8 can easily be filled on most major domestic routes.
But for an airline like WestJet where they’re transforming into a full service airline,
and also trying to cater more towards business travellers, frequency of flights is key.
Take one of WestJet’s busiest routes, like Calgary to Vancouver, which has up to 15 flights
a day in each direction.
During less busy travel times, it would be much easier for WestJet to fill, say, 120
seats on an A220 versus 174 on a 737.
And, if you look closely, most of these high-frequency routes are actually flown with the smaller
737s to begin with.
WestJet also does this with Encore on certain routes like Toronto to Montreal.
On a typical day in August, there are 13 WestJet flights each way,
11 of which are flown with the Dash 8s.
Of course, it all depends on the demand of a certain route, but from an outside standpoint,
it seems there is still a need for a small mainline aircraft.
Furthermore, the added efficiency and range of the A220 means it could open up some potentially
lucrative routes, just as competitor Air Canada has planned, with new A220 routes from Toronto
to San Jose, and Montreal to Seattle.
With a range of 3,350 nautical miles according to Airbus, the A220-300 could cover pretty
much the entire North American continent from WestJet’s home base in Calgary.
In theory, the A220 could also open up some transatlantic routes from Eastern Canada,
and bolster the existing ones, like Halifax to Dublin, Glasgow, and London.
However, the larger 737 MAX 7 and 8 do actually have more range, being able to fly up to 3,850
and 3,550 nautical miles, respectively.
For the shorter transatlantic routes, the A220 might not be as suitable.
Overall, on paper at least, it seems like the A220 has quite a bit of potential for
WestJet within North America.
However, like I said earlier, there isn’t exactly an immediate need to replace those
smaller 737s.
There’s also the matter of mainline WestJet being an all-Boeing operator.
CEO Ed Sims has mentioned that Boeing’s response to the 737 MAX crisis could’ve
been better, saying in October last year that he expects “‘A-plus’ service from every
supplier to WestJet” and that “Boeing have missed a beat, frankly, in the way that
they’ve responded to this crisis.”
While WestJet’s said that they remain committed to their outstanding 737 MAX orders, for the
gap between the Dash 8 and the MAX 7, is Boeing’s response enough to make the carrier jump to Airbus?
In all honesty, probably not.
But given how the company’s gone from only flying 737s to Dash 8s, then 767s, and now
787s, adding another type to their fleet isn’t impossible, but only time will tell.
Now, unfortunately, we do have to go back to reality for a moment.
The aviation industry has been affected in an unprecedented way, and there’s no way
of knowing how the world will look on the other side.
Chances are though, airlines will be quite a bit leaner, and I’m afraid Calgary’s
hometown airline is no exception.
It really is a tumultuous time for the industry, and my heart goes out to all the WestJetters
affected by this, as well as everyone else in aviation.
I hate to end this on a negative note, but to answer the question, could the Airbus A220
work for WestJet?
Perhaps.
It would make a very effective 737-600 and -700 replacement in the future, and there
are a lot of potential routes it could open.
Will WestJet actually order some?
Probably not anytime soon.
But I’d also like to hear your thoughts,
do you think the A220 has a place in WestJet’s future fleet?
Let me know in the comments down below.
Otherwise, thank you very much for watching.
Leave a like if you enjoyed the video, subscribe if you’re new, and I’ll see you next time.