Western Pacific’s Logojets

An early decision was that the new carrier would specialise in low fare, nonstop, medium haul (500 to 1800km) services out of Colorado Springs with a one type aircraft fleet, the 737-300 which is “the best airplane ever built”, according to Ed Beauvais.

Seating is provided for 138 passengers in an all economy six abreast configuration. An electronic ticketless system is used – passengers pay at the point of reservation, board in order of their allocated pass numbers – and so those first on board sit where they choose. This fast check-in procedure saves Western Pacific up to $US2m a year in ticket processing charges, or about $US3.50 to$US4 per passenger.

Inflight food service is limited to snacks and drinks. But austerity doesn’t apply across the board as flights are regularly enlivened by organised games such as guessing the combined weight of the flight crew, or unravelling toilet rolls down both sides of the aisle without breaking the paper. During last year’s northern autumn, Western Pacific had little trouble in persuading more than 5000 people to spend a fare of $US59 ($A74) on mystery flights.

Western Pacific’s 13 airliners with the flying billboard paint schemes are called “LogoJets”, and are the most visual attribute of the Air Logo program. No two airliners in the fleet of 13 carry the same paintwork, and Western Pacific sells the fuselage space to corporations, hotels, colleges, tourist bodies – in fact any organisation willing to part with the $US100,000 repainting/rental fees.

Certainly an effective attempt at using paint on an aircraft for marketing purposes has to be the Simpsons livery on N949WP, with sponsor Fox Television’s logo adorning the engine nacelles. More elegant is 737-3B7 N947WP, in the Broadmoor Resort’s corporate colours of beige and maroon.

If Western Pacific’s paint schemes are airborne flashiness, the airline’s fortunes have been equally illustrious; one byproduct being the monumental 67% rise in passenger traffic at the airline’s home base airport, Colorado Springs, only eight weeks after the first LogoJet took to the skies. Another indicator of continuing profitability is the carrier’s planned order for 20 new 737-300s (to include the -700 type by delivery in 1997/98). The next generation -700 model, equipped with CFM56-7B engines and an 18% larger wing than the -300, is expected to yield improved heavyweight takeoff performance from Colorado Springs’ 1882m elevation airport. The airline expects to operate 24 737s by the end of this year, and plans to add 10 to 12 aircraft annually to its fleet over the next three years.

At the time of writing, Western Pacific was servicing 20 American cities. A public stock offering of 2.5 million shares with an estimated selling price of $15 to$US17 per share has been anticipated. Chairman Beauvais’ recently stated aspiration is for Western Pacific to be flying 50 to 75 airliners 10 years hence. Asked if they would be LogoJets, his confident prediction was “you bet!”