WestJet throughout the years

WestJet Airlines Ltd. has a history longing back to few decades. As it was founded in 1996, it has come a long way ahead from those times in terms of service, fleet and international partnerships as well. WestJet also got its name because in the early days its original routes were all located in Western Canada. In precisely 1996, the airline served major routes such as Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Vancouver and Winnipeg. Later, by the end of this year, some routes such as Regina, Saskatoon and Victoria were also added to its network.

WestJet flight over Montreal

In the early 2000's, the WestJet expanded its service to the many major cities of Ontario as well as those of Thompson and Manitoba. Also, in the year 2003, WestJet entered into a two-year agreement with Air Transat in which the chartered flights began operating to Mexico and the Caribbean. However, this agreement was terminated in February 2009. Later in the year 2004, WestJet was accused of industrial espionage by the rival airline Air Canada where they filed a civil suit in Ontario Superior Court. Later in 2006, WestJet admitted to the charges and agreed to their terms and  conditions.                                                                                                

                                

WestJet Employee Tammy Reddick helps
guest Erica Mills as she checks in for a flight at Pearson Airport.

International expansion paved its way for the WestJet in mid 2000's when a large number of US destinations were added and announced. Also, the flights from the Toronto Pearson International Airport were tripled and the whole focus of the Eastern operations was moved from Hamilton to Toronto in January 2004. Also, in 2006, WestJet scheduled its first service outside Canada and US to Bahamas, which was a huge milestone within the company's international market presence.                                                                                                                   

WestJet President and CEO Gregg Saretsky

Late 2000's saw the growth of WestJet expanding to several locations in Canada and US as well as some international seasonal flights to Saint Lucia, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Kona in June 2007.  Later on, in March 2010, Sean Durfy was replaced by Gregg Saretsky as the WestJet CEO. Last year in 2013, WestJet announced their first destination to Europe which will operate from June to October this year. It is seasonal service from St. John's, Newfoundland to Dublin, Ireland. Throughout the years, WestJet has remarkably expanded its service as well as making significant decisions each year in the well being of the passengers. It is the efforts of the each and every individual serving for WestJet that it is currently the second-largest Canadian air carrier.                                                              References:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WestJet