Westjet Airlines 737-700 C-FIWS (May 2001)
Posted 01-25-2010 at 02:14 PM by Sentinel Chicken
Westjet Airlines 737-76N | C-FIWS | MSN 32404| LN 851 | First Westjet 737NG (May 2001)
When David Neeleman, one of the co-founders of Morris Air, left Southwest Airlines, CEO Herb Kelleher recognized Neeleman's talent in the airline business and had him sign a non-compete clause that prevented him from starting a new airline in the United States for a period of five years. Neeleman being the restless entrepreneur that he's famous for, set his sights to the north and went to Canada where he perceived that there was the need for a competitive counterweight to the incumbent Air Canada and its ailing long time rival, Canadian (formerly Canadian Pacific/CPAir). Modeled on what his own experiences at Morris Air and Southwest, Neeleman teamed up with Calgary businessmen Clive Beddoe, Mark Hill, Tim Morgan and Donald Bell to establish Westjet in 1996.
Based in Calgary and starting with a fleet of three Boeing 737-200s and just over 200 employees, Westjet launched services from Calgary to Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnepeg and Kelowna on 29 February 1996. Within a year Westjet had already carried its one millionth passenger and added Victoria, Abbotsford, Saskatoon and Regina to its route network. By 2001 when it took delivery of its first 737-700, Canadian Airlines had been absorbed by Air Canada and Westjet had already expanded into eastern Canada by making Hamilton, Ontario its eastern focus city.
This print depicts C-FIWS, Westjet's first 737-700, as it looked on its delivery from Boeing in May 2001.
With the 737-200s retired, Westjet, like Southwest Airlines, focused on one model of aircraft, adding the 737-600 and the 737-800 to its fleet. And once David Neeleman's non-compete clause expired, he headed back to the United States where he would found JetBlue.
Some detail views of this print:
And this is a close up of the historical vignette:
And this is an overview of the entire print (watermarks will not appear on the final illustration):
This print is 16 x 20 inches in size and is printed professionally on heavyweight paper in a high gloss finish that uses a subtle pearlescent photographic process to render the colors much more vibrantly than the previous print process I employed.
Contact me for details.
Based in Calgary and starting with a fleet of three Boeing 737-200s and just over 200 employees, Westjet launched services from Calgary to Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnepeg and Kelowna on 29 February 1996. Within a year Westjet had already carried its one millionth passenger and added Victoria, Abbotsford, Saskatoon and Regina to its route network. By 2001 when it took delivery of its first 737-700, Canadian Airlines had been absorbed by Air Canada and Westjet had already expanded into eastern Canada by making Hamilton, Ontario its eastern focus city.
This print depicts C-FIWS, Westjet's first 737-700, as it looked on its delivery from Boeing in May 2001.
With the 737-200s retired, Westjet, like Southwest Airlines, focused on one model of aircraft, adding the 737-600 and the 737-800 to its fleet. And once David Neeleman's non-compete clause expired, he headed back to the United States where he would found JetBlue.
Some detail views of this print:
And this is a close up of the historical vignette:
And this is an overview of the entire print (watermarks will not appear on the final illustration):
This print is 16 x 20 inches in size and is printed professionally on heavyweight paper in a high gloss finish that uses a subtle pearlescent photographic process to render the colors much more vibrantly than the previous print process I employed.
Contact me for details.
