Air Canada too dominant in the East for WestJet to compete, experts say

Industry watchers expect WestJet to remove routes from the Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa triangle as part of the Calgary-based airline’s new strategy to focus future growth on Western Canada.

The WestJet Group announced Thursday a plan to shift its resources in the wake of a strategic review of the company’s operations.

WestJet said it will add routes to more communities in the West and centre its existing wide-body 787 Dreamliner fleet around Western Canada.

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WestJet spent a decade adding routes to central and Atlantic Canada in an effort to go head-to-head with Montreal-based Air Canada.

But experts say Air Canada is a juggernaut in those regions and breaking in proved difficult for the airline.

They say WestJet has made a smart decision by choosing to refocus on the region where it already has strength.