Topic of the Week: Will Air Canada rouge Succeed?

May 31, 2013

42 comments

42 responses to “Topic of the Week: Will Air Canada rouge Succeed?”

CP

May 31, 2013 at 4:16 am

I don’t know if it will make a difference or not to them being financially successful, but I like the uniforms, and I think the tail of the plane looks great! (I like it better than the regular Air Canada tail.)

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1. canuck_in_ca
  
  May 31, 2013 at 7:48 am
  
  Ditto on the tail.
  
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2. Arcanum
  
  May 31, 2013 at 1:34 pm
  
  I hadn’t seen the tail before. It is nice!
  
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3. Arcanum
  
  May 31, 2013 at 1:51 pm
  
  I’m going to disagree with the masses. Marketing nonsense aside, I think this actually will work.
  
  AC already competes WestJet, Air Transat, etc. on these routes. Presumably they lose money hand over fist due to their legacy cost base and the lack of premium cabin traffic.
  
  Rather than withdraw from these markets entirely (which might be the best plan) they’re shifting them to a lower-cost subsidiary. It’s similar to what LH is doing with Germanwings on their non-FRA/MUC domestic routes. Tango and Zip, in contrast, competed on routes also served by mainline AC. As long as Rouge loses less money than the current service management can spin it as a victory.
  
  The uniforms are ridiculous of course, but at least Rouge will have young and enthusiastic FAs like Porter instead of the rather sour old matrons I usually get on AC. I doubt many of them will be wearing the fedora though.
  
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Nathaniel

May 31, 2013 at 4:31 am

It will only be successful if they can do it for a Song…

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1. Voyager9270
  
  May 31, 2013 at 5:13 am
  
  Well, as you know, it takes two to Tango….
  
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  1. DC
    
    May 31, 2013 at 5:42 am
    
    We’ve hard all that Jazz before…
    
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    1. Ted
      
      May 31, 2013 at 6:36 am
      
      It may Zoom…
      
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      1. Michael
        
        May 31, 2013 at 6:40 am
        
        just ZIP it.
        
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      2. Random User
        
        May 31, 2013 at 6:59 am
        
        I think they have a shot if they put Ted in charge.
        
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      3. chinger
        
        May 31, 2013 at 7:45 am
        
        Bravo everyone, Encore
        
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      4. BL
        
        May 31, 2013 at 10:22 am
        
        If Air Canada were United they could call the new thing Nada — kinda like the chance it will succeed (as Ted did — NOT!)
        
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      5. Gabe Andino
        
        May 31, 2013 at 12:42 pm
        
        You guys have won the internet today.
        
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      6. Nick Barnard
        
        May 31, 2013 at 12:50 pm
        
        Geez, all these comments are just to Metrojet for me.
        
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JRS

May 31, 2013 at 4:45 am

As long as they don’t have to compete directly with US carriers on routes at airports close to the border they will have a better chance to succeed.

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1. Mark
  
  May 31, 2013 at 10:31 am
  
  OK here’s the deal. 90% or so of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the US border. Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver all have legitimate alternative airports in the US just over that border. So, unless Rouge plans on making Fort McMUrray a major hub, then your theory goes all to h….
  
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  1. Bobsmith
    
    May 31, 2013 at 12:50 pm
    
    Vancouver, Toronto (especially), Montreal all have large, international airport. While some do go to the U.S. to fly out of places like Bellingham, Buffalo, it is not a huge hit to the air traffic. Similar to people who elect to fly out of Milwaukee instead of O’Hare.
    
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2. CZBB
  
  Jun 3, 2013 at 7:51 am
  
  Americans don’t seem to understand this:
  It’s not Canadian taxes that causes Canadians to drive across the border and board flights in the USA, it’s US taxes. On an international flight there are a heap of taxes imposed on international arrivals which are avoided by driving across the border. There aren’t cheap holiday flights to Mexico from BUF/BLI/PBG, because it’s only US destinations where it makes a difference.
  
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Sean S.

May 31, 2013 at 6:12 am

I think Canada is a different market for these things than the US. I imagine the Snow bird market will make significant use of this sort of seasonal service, focused on leisure travelers. The argument that people will drive across the border ignores that there are significant populations in Canada where that realistically isn’t an option, atleast not with the sort of leisure destinations rouge is offering.

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1. John G
  
  May 31, 2013 at 7:17 am
  
  There are plenty of airlines that serve the Canadian leisure market, including Westjet, Sunwing, and Air Transat. AC is going to have go up against these guys.
  
  It’s like American or Delta creating a unit to compete with Allegiant. Not going to work, methinks. Especially when they are talking about “customer service”. On leisure routes? Pretty much it’s 1) low fares 2) low fares and 3) low fares.
  
  Spirit treats their customers like dirt and they make money at it. In that market, customer service really doesn’t matter.
  
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David SF eastbay

May 31, 2013 at 7:31 am

If it’s leisure travel, that means cheap prices and we know how well that has worked for legacy carriers in the past with an airline within an airline. Long gone are the days of taking a cheap flight to say Luxembourg to begin your big European holiday on a stretched DC-8.

There are to many airlines flying to tourist destinations for Air Canada to come alone and out price or get business because of what F/A’s are wearing.

But good luck to them.

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MeanMeosh

May 31, 2013 at 7:47 am

I guess since epic fail isn’t a choice, I’ll just go with plain old, regular failure.

Methinks we have another Ted on our hands.

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Southeasterner

May 31, 2013 at 7:47 am

“stylishly relaxed onboard apparel, both of which will contribute to a fresh, comfortable and vacation like environment for travelers”

So normal Air Canada passengers will get “ugly stressful onboard apparel, both of which will contribute to a stale, uncomfortable and prison like environment for travelers” – Sad that Air Canada needs a new airline to offer a better passenger experience.

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1. Nick
  
  May 31, 2013 at 9:48 am
  
  LMAO! Reminds me of the Mapleflot jokes of yore.
  
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eponymous coward

May 31, 2013 at 8:03 am

So they’re hiring hipster flight attendants?

http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/media/rouge/documents/rouge_uniform3.jpg

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1. Singblue
  
  May 31, 2013 at 9:34 am
  
  Is Justin Timberlake an Air Steward now?
  
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2. Nick
  
  May 31, 2013 at 9:46 am
  
  Ick. What’s worse than hipsters are “hipsters” created by corporate marketing/branding types. AC, stop. Please.
  
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Jim M

May 31, 2013 at 8:19 am

The only winner is the fedora industry. My goodness — this might be the funniest thing I have ever seen.

http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/media/rouge/documents/rouge_uniform1.jpg

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1. BW
  
  May 31, 2013 at 10:13 am
  
  The uniforms are getting close to Hot Dog on a Stick zone.
  
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yo

May 31, 2013 at 8:56 am

Because the “Airline within an airline” always works!

cough..Ted..Metroyet…Song…Lite…cough

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1. Bobsmith
  
  May 31, 2013 at 12:51 pm
  
  Good point, is there evidence of it ever working anywhere? I actually can’t think of any instance.
  
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Phil Roberts

May 31, 2013 at 10:16 am

Brett, sounds just like British Airways’ GO. We supplied BA the template for GO, and it was executed perfectly by Barbara Cassani with her expert touch and passion. Problem, conflict of interest (economic and attention) and it was eventually sold to easyJet. Reasons given were BA’s need to focus on core service but “….it was also apparent that GO was cannibalising British Airways, attracting customers from the core business.” wikipedia Rouge won’t work either.

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DesertGhost

May 31, 2013 at 10:28 am

Rouge (or lipstick) on a pig only covers up a pig. If past is prologue …

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Brad

May 31, 2013 at 11:05 am

Not likely to be a success. Airline within an airline usually fail. Looks like a project of experts or outside contractors who have little real knowledge of the product. Stick to what you do Air Canada. Do it well, pay your employees and have respect for them and your customers. The business model is simple, it just gets messed up my pencil pushers and bean counters. I agree, it will go the way of Ted, Song, and many others.

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David SF eastbay

May 31, 2013 at 12:25 pm

I didn’t check out the link this morning when I commented until now after reading some comments on the uniforms.

Wow, are those left over clothes from senior geek day in high school?

Now I get the Justin Timberlake comment…..lol. Maybe add Bruno Mars also, he wears those hats too.

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yo

May 31, 2013 at 4:15 pm

Fedoras are awful….at least they aren’t wearing Ed Hardy T-Shirts to complete the douchebag wardrobe…

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Alex Hill

May 31, 2013 at 7:18 pm

29″ pitch on the A319s and 30″ on the 767s in economy? Wowzer that’s tight, and these aren’t short flights. All this talk about a stylish appearance is obviously marketing spin. Cramming that many passengers in sure should push their seat mile costs down.

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Matt Weber

Jun 1, 2013 at 3:49 am

I don’t look favorably upon the prospects. This reminds me of the ‘United Rising’ campaign of many years ago. Customer Service Excellence and comfort (with 29 or 30 inch seat pitch) are oxymorons for any carrier based in North America. The fact that Rouge is already obviously over promising what they can actually deliver is not a good way to start off, and it like just about all North American Carriers, can be expected to go down hill from there. I think Rouge would be much better off reducing customer expectations to what they expect to be able to delivery (which is probably very little), and coming closer to emulating Allegiant or Spirit.

If the customer is driven almost exclusively by low fare, why advertise anything else (especially when you are unlikely to be able to deliver anything else)…

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Ed Kelty

Jun 1, 2013 at 6:10 pm

The whole thing is stupid. They should offer two classes of service. Second class with crappy seats and no amenities, plus another class with a place to put your knees and maybe get a cup of coffee.

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1. Nick Barnard
  
  Jun 1, 2013 at 7:02 pm
  
  Now do your knees need to stay attached?
  
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Kai Hansen

Jun 3, 2013 at 9:11 pm

Judging by the last couple of Air Canada’s venture into LLC such as “ZiP” and “TANGO” it does not look good. a uniform does not make an airline.
They are trying to get Transat passengers, which btw has a great uniform and not so bad service. I will give it two years maximum before it folds up.

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Eve

Jun 28, 2014 at 6:47 pm

I fly AC Rouge on May 15th. Horrid, no leg room and worse no entertainment, not even a map or a clock. The three people in my row will never fly AC rouge again, I figure 1/4 to a 1/3rd of the plane will never fly them again.

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