Tag Archives: 4466

WestJet Encore celebrates its first birthday, gets ready to launch its East operation

WestJet Encore (Calgary) yesterday (June 24) celebrated its first birthday, just days before the eastern operations launch with flights between Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Toronto (Pearson).

The regional airline, which took to the skies on June 24, 2013, has enjoyed tremendous support from the many communities that now have regular air service, and the many more that now boast better schedules, more frequency, and more options with respect to carriers and destinations.

In the twelve months since WestJet Encore took to the skies, it has added 12 destinations to the original six, which included Calgary, Alberta, Fort St. John, Nanaimo, Vancouver, and Victoria, British Columbia and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The fleet of Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft will have grown from two to 13 by the end of June.

On Friday, June 27, WestJet Encore will officially launch east-bound service with four daily, nonstop flights between Thunder Bay and Toronto.

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography/AirlinersGallery.com. Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) C-FIWE (msn 4466) sits on the ramp at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport (YYZ).

WestJet Encore to replace WestJet on the Toronto-Quebec City route

WestJet (Calgary) has announced the launch of new, nonstop twice-daily service between Toronto (Pearson) and Quebec City, Quebec, effective on March 15, 2015. Using WestJet Encore‘s fleet of Canadian-made Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) NextGen aircraft, the new service will replace WestJet’s current daily service on board its Boeing Next-Generations 737s.

On the financial side, WestJet announced its first quarter results for 2014, with net earnings of $89.3 million (all amounts in Canadian dollars), or $0.69 per diluted share. This compares with the net earnings of $91.1 million, or $0.68 per diluted share reported in the first quarter of 2013. Based on the trailing twelve months, the airline achieved a return on invested capital of 13.7 per cent, compared with the 13.9 per cent reported in the previous quarter. These results include pre-tax recoveries of value added taxes of $17.6 million associated with fuel costs and $2.5 million associated with airport costs incurred from 2009 to 2013.

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography/AirlinersGallery.com. Newly-built Bombardier DHC-8-402 (marketed as the Q400) C-FIWE (msn 4466) of WestJet Encore sits idle on the ramp at Lester B. Pearson International Airport (YYZ) in Toronto.

WestJet: