Canada to Ireland: underserved markets can offer rapid growth for both LCCs & legacy airlines

The market in airline seats between Canada and Ireland almost doubled between summer 2013 and summer 2015. Moreover, it has expanded from a summer only to a year-round market.

A number of factors have driven this, including the entry of LCC WestJet; the transfer of Air Canada capacity from its mainline operation to its LCC brand rouge and rouge's subsequent increase in frequency; Aer Lingus' return to growth mode on the North Atlantic and its flexibility in deploying wet leased capacity for its Canadian entry.

The two airlines previously making up a duopoly on Canada-Ireland have navigated the market's development quite differently over the past two years. Air Transat, still the number two airline between Canada and Western Europe overall, has lost significant market share on its Irish network, to the benefit of Aer Lingus and WestJet. Air Canada has successfully used rouge to defend its leading share of what is now a much larger market.