WestJet Airlines to add wide-body aircrafts to its fleet in 2015

WestJet Airline is keen to add wide body aircrafts to its fleet. The Calgary, Alberta based airline intends to make these prominent changes to its fleet as early as next year. At present, the Canadian budget carrier has a wet-lease agreement with Thomas Cook, which in turn offers two pilots and two Boeing B757 airlines for services to the Hawaii during the winter months.

The airline’s contract with Thomas Cook is set to expire during the spring of the year 2015. The airline management has thus been evaluating all possible opportunities to tackle this situation. Therefore, the idea of purchasing larger aircrafts, better equipped for long haul journeys has been the center of discussion for a while now.

However, until it arrives at a fixed decision to purchase these planes, it is contemplating dry-leasing Boeing B767 or Airbus A330 wide-body planes that will have its own pilots and crew onboard. At present, the airline operates flights to about 88 destinations across 18 countries and this number is growing. Some of the cities served include Freeport, Vancouver, Halifax, Montreal, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Kona, Dallas, and New York City. Currently its fleet consists of Boeing 737-600, Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-800, and Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 NextGen series planes.

Though the airline has not officially confirmed the report, yet the news is doing the rounds in the aviation sector these days. However, a company official did hint at this possibility once the Thomas Cook contract expires early next year.