Faced with criticism from industry experts and consumer advocates following the closing of WestJet Group's acquisition of Sunwing last month, as well as news that WestJet intends to integrate Sunwing Airlines as well as its own budget airline Swoop into its mainline, both parties in the acquisition deal have come out with statements addressing those concerns.
With less competition, it's feared, Canadian travellers will be facing higher prices and fewer choices for air travel and packaged vacations.
On 20JUN, as Open Jaw reported, WestJet issued a statement reinforcing its previous comments that it would provide a full range of airfares, from budget to premium, throughout an integrated fleet. In addition, it reiterated Sunwing's statement to Open Jaw that Sunwing Vacations would continue to operate as its own brand, targeting a different market segment from WestJet Vacations.
On 21JUN, Sunwing issued its own statement with more details.
Calling the future at Sunwing Vacations "brighter than ever," the statement says that Sunwing Vacations is not just operating 'business as usual,' but claims its offering is about to get better, with "the most robust winter offering yet."
Its full winter schedule will be released in the coming weeks, but the operator assures Canada's trade that it includes new and returning destinations, along with several new or expanded routes.
Andrew Dawson, President of Tour Operations, said in the statement, “We will leverage the WestJet network in future to drive increased scale and growth to expand our Sunwing Vacations offering, alongside the WestJet Vacations brand. It’s an exciting time for the business and we look forward to continued collaboration with travel advisors to bring more choice to Canadians now and into the future.”
As part of the WestJet Group, Sunwing Vacations says it will be able to add to its sun leisure offerings via WestJet’s expanded network on a year-round basis.
And it specifically address Competition Bureau concerns raised during the regulatory review of the acquisition. When Ottawa approved the acquisition, as Open Jaw reported, it put in place "strict and "enforceable terms and conditions intended to protect the interests of travellers," including:
- Extending Sunwing vacation package offerings to five new Canadian cities;
- Maintaining capacity on routes most affected by the merger;
- Increasing regional connectivity;
- Maintaining a vacations business head office in the Toronto area and a regional office in the Montreal area for a minimum of five years;
- Increasing net employment by 20 per cent over three years in the Toronto office; and
- Supplying airfare data on vacation packages for monitoring of post-acquisition price trends
In its 21JUN statement, the tour operator said that, through the WestJet air network, it will be able to provide more options for sun vacation packages in more destinations to more Canadians in regions across Canada. That presumably includes smaller Canadian markets that saw the operator pull out during the past winter's operational challenges.
In addition, the tour operator announced that it will maintain its headquarters in the Greater Toronto Area along with its Quebec head office in the Greater Montreal Area, another of Ottawa's conditions.
More information can be found on Sunwing's website.
