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WestJet is a regularly scheduled passenger airline that flies
mainly in western Canada.
WestJet Boeing 737 departing from Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) in March 2004
Begun in 1996 by Clive Beddoe, Mark
Hill, Tim Morgan and Donald Bell, WestJet tried to
follow the same path as Southwest Airlines and Morris Air, a low-cost carrier. Morris Air, however, was purchased by Southwest
shortly after WestJet was created.
On February 29, 1996 the first
WestJet flight (a Boeing 737) departed. At that time, the airline served
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Kelowna, British Columbia, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. By 1997, they had included Victoria, Regina and Saskatoon and in 1998 service to Abbotsford, British Columbia was added.
In 1999 a milestone was reached when WestJet was able to offer its first public sharing
at 2.5 million shares, and in 2000, the airline expanded to Canada's eastern region,
reaching Hamilton, Moncton and Ottawa, and choosing Hamilton as the airline's eastern region
hub. That year, Beddoe, Hill, Morgan and Bell were given the Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year award in Canada
for their contribution to the Canadian airline industry. In 2001, expansion continued, to
include Fort McMurray, Comox, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thompson and Brandon. The airline's
four creators also received another entrepreneur award. In 2002 the airline added two new
eastern Canadian destinations, the cities of London, Ontario and
Toronto. In April, 2003, Westjet added Windsor and Montreal as a destination. Halifax, Moncton, St. John's, and Gander have also been added. In April,
2004, WestJet moved its eastern hub from Hamilton to Toronto. All of the flights between
Ottawa and Hamilton and Montreal and Hamilton were moved to Toronto, a move that brought WestJet into the lucrative
Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal triangle.
The airline still flies a fleet that consists exclusively of Boeing
737's.
Copyright note
Photo owned by, and courtesy of, Mr. Richard Barsby.
External link
WestJet website
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