WestJet Has Been Profitable Every Quarter for 7 Years

WestJet today announced its selection by Aviation Week as a top 10 international airline. The study ranks airline carriers across the world by their annual revenues, using financial and operational data to rate publicly traded airlines in five different performance categories. WestJet is the only Canadian airline and one of only two North American airlines to appear on this year's list.  In May, WestJet announced record first-quarter net earnings of $68.3 million, the airline's 28th consecutive quarter of profitability.

WestJet 737 Taking Off

I doubt any airline will win the Nobel Prize for economics any time soon.  But WestJet, Canada’s “preferred airline” (their words), has been profitable every quarter for the last 7 years and that is something special.  WestJet operates a fleet of 737 to 76 cities.  No CRJs and no wide bodies.  Sounds like Southwest.  Unlike Southwest, they fly to several countries allowing them to serve additional profitable markets for both business and leisure (you can be a pure play domestic airline in Canada, but you need to focus on the way up north, like First Air and Canada North).  WestJet also codeshares with American and Delta to bring in more traffic and offer more destinations for customers without changing their fleet make up.  These WestJet guys have quietly found the formula for a profitable airline.  That might be worth a trip to Stockholm after all, on a code share partner of course.  

ITA Matrix Search Game - Most Minimum Connections

I read that some airport pairs require a minimum of 20 stops to travel between.  This seemed stunning, so I went to ITA Matrix flight search trying to see how many minimum connections I could find between two cities.  My personal best so far is 9 connections for Grayling, Alaska (KGX) to Tezpur, India (TEZ).  

Canada may be a good place to start looking

Can you do better? The ITA Matrix search game is born. Post your best pairings in the comments; it’ll be a fun game.

California Pacific Airlines - Who?

There’s a new airline in town, well in Carlsbad (San Diego north), California.  California Pacific Airlines (CPA) is a startup looking to make Carlsbad the low cost airport for San Diego.  They plan to have service to Vegas, Phoenix, Cabo, San Jose, Oakland, and Sacramento.  The airline will operate E170 jets in an all coach configuration.  I’ll put the over under on their survival at 14 months, if they ever get off the ground.

Great Lakes Puddle Jumper, Close Enough

The SoCal air market is already very crowded and filled with low fares and high frequencies.  CPA seems unlikely to generate much connecting traffic or traffic originating at their spokes.  They do have an interesting marketing position focused on Carlsbad’s low costs to customers and convenient location to people north of San Diego; SAN is amazingly convenient for locals.  I don’t think there will be enough traffic though to sustain their operation.  The big airlines all work out of SAN (40 mins south), Long Beach (75 mins north) and LAX (90 mins north) with more destinations and frequencies and unless you live right in Carlsbad, it will most likely be worth the drive to catch a flight.  I haven’t written an obituary yet, but I’m tempted to start soon.

UPDATE 12/14/14:
I have a feeling the airline is done before it ever took off.  The flycpair.com domain name expired and is now up for auction, current price $65.

Delta Skymiles Amex Card Fills Mileage Balance Gaps

I am not the biggest fan of Delta, but SkyMiles are becoming more useful as Delta’s domestic network grows.  I’m not going to be flying Delta to collect SkyMiles (all my Delta and American flights are credited to Alaska), so their Amex card seems like the best route to earning miles. 

There is currently a lull in the credit card sign up game.  No one is offering the 50,000 to 100,000 point sign up bonuses any more.  Since I am unable to grab large numbers of miles, my new strategy is to strategically fill some gaps in my miles balances (I have a large pile of Starwood points that transfer to most airlines, so I’m never really in trouble, but I am hesitant to use them unless as a last resort).  SkyTeam is my largest gap so I picked up the Delta SkyMiles Amex to fill that gap.  It has a decent sign up bonus and no fee the first year.  It is a perfect fit for my needs. 

Delta Flight at MKE

I still recommend the Starwood Hotels Amex above all others.  If you don’t have it, you should grab it first.

Delta CRJ Needs a Visit to the Paint Shop

Frontier Airlines Discount Coupon Code

Frontier Airlines is offering 18% off all domestic flights ("excluding Alaska and Hawaii, the freak states" -The Simpsons) now through July 5th.  Use code Birthday18.  Full details are available. I think this is a standard sale (not targeted to any area), not a retaliation to Southwest's recent attack on Denver.

Guess the Dysfunctional Airline

"The pilot of a(n) Guess The Airline passenger plane seated his mother in the cockpit for a domestic flight, refusing to take off without her after he could not get her a free ticket."

Guess which dysfunctional airline would let this fly.  Read the full story here.

I Love the Departures Board at FRA, My Blog, My Pictures

Southwest Attacks Frontier in Denver

Now that Southwest / AirTran has won the battle with Frontier in Milwaukee, the next battle will be fought in Denver.  And it appears Southwest is looking to win the war in Denver by poaching Frontier’s most valuable customers.  I, like most other Rapid Reward members in Colorado I suspect, got this email today:

“We have an exciting opportunity for Colorado Rapid Rewards Members who have tier membership in Frontier EarlyReturns®!  From now through August 31, 2012, EarlyReturns Ascent or Summit members can get complimentary Rapid Rewards A-List Membership!  And as an added bonus, we'll even give you complimentary AirTran Airways® A+ Rewards® Elite status.  That means you can gain elite status in two frequent flier programs!”

Southwest Status Match Offer

Southwest wants to eliminate competitors.  That’s why they purchased AirTran and are dismantling it.  Next on their list is Frontier, an airline without a strategy or deep pockets.  It is an easy target.  Southwest doesn’t want to agitate United in Denver because UA will go broke to defend the Denver hub and the airline’s customers don’t overlap well.  Frontier can’t afford competition and their low cost customers can very easily become Southwest’s.  Look for Frontier to return fire; they can hold off Southwest in the short term, but are doomed if Southwest lays siege to Denver.