OUR BASE,
YOUR SUCCESS.

SUPPORTING THOSE AFFECTED BY THE PROPOSED YQB BASE CLOSURE

In March 2022, the WestJet Group announced the intention to purchase Sunwing Vacations and Sunwing Airlines.

The sale was subject to review by the Competition Bureau under the Competition Act. The resulting report delivered to the Minister of Transport determined that the proposed transaction would likely result in “lessening of competition on certain routes,” “a merger to monopoly on some routes,” and “a significant reduction in travel by Canadians in overlap markets.”

Despite the reservations of the Competition Bureau, the Government approved the transaction on March 9, 2023, with some terms outlined in the Order in Council PC 2023-0210. Among the terms was a requirement that WestJet, within one year, “undertake a study of the commercial feasibility of the expansion of the Vacations Business in Québec.” The orders also required WestJet to offer vacations to the Sunwing brand from five additional points (cities) within two years.

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It is clear that approval of the sale was intended to preserve or increase Vacation jobs as well as Vacation offerings. While WestJet did undertake the expansion of the “Vacations Business” by creating Vacances WestJet Québec, which sells vacations to the Québec market, it also made concurrent plans to close the Québec City Sunwing base for pilots and cabin crew.

At the time of the sale, the Sunwing YQB base employed around 50 pilots and 80 flight attendants. The YQB base crews originate from the Capitale-Nationale and the regions surrounding Québec City, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspésie, Chaudière-Appalaches, Mauricie, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Côte-Nord, with all their families rooted in these regions. The combined annual salaries of the crew members also generate $12 million, which is invested back into the city of Québec and its surrounding regions.

On November 5, 2024, WestJet officially announced the YQB crew base would close by April 2025, with a subsequent restructuring of its crews to Montréal and other WestJet bases. It is important to note that Sunwing is the only major Canadian carrier to have a base in YQB.

During the vacation season of 2023/24, there were approximately 500 flights carrying around 80,000 passengers from Québec City and Bagotville down to their Caribbean vacations.

WestJet proposes to crew these flights from other bases. As a result, backup crew would not be readily available in Québec to handle flight delay situations such as winter storms, mechanical issues, or other unforeseen circumstances.