Jetsgo's dead

See, I told you guys. After the Christmas fiasco (Part I & Part II), there was no way that Jetsgo was going to stay alive. Urban Sista is always right.

And, of course, during another one of the busiest travel times of the year, Jetsgo decides to ground their planes and strand passengers across the country.

No Real Cancun for poor Canadian spring breakers. I mean, how are people going to carry on bad in Miami and Cancun if they can't get there?

Chupse. I was watching CityTV and they had footage of airport employees going into Terminal 3 and taking down the Jetsgo signage. Imagine that you're at the airport, ready to board a plane to take you to your destination and you see that people are pulling down signs? Boy, if they thought there was ruckus at Christmas they're looking for a war today.

Any Jetsgo employees reading this blog, don't wear you uniform near Pearson -- there will be problems. Truthfully, I do have feelings for the employees of Jetsgo. Hopefully, they knew what was going down and were able to find employment elsewhere. Keep ya head up, folks!

Anyway, I guess it's better to be grounded before you leave than when you're trying to get back. Here's the Canadian Press story from the Toronto Star...

Grounded Jetsgo strands passengers
Westjet offers help after Jetsgo ceases operations, tells travellers to make other plans
CANADIAN PRESS

Discount airline Jetsgo announced early today that it is grounded, effective immediately.

Jetsgo advised customers to make alternative arrangements before heading to Pearson International Airport this morning because there will be no Jetsgo staff or planes available.
Travellers who are already away were told that their return tickets are no good and to make other arrangements to get home.

To make matters worse, it's the beginning of March break.

The company issued the stunning announcement shortly after midnight today.

The shutdown comes at the start of March break for many school systems across Canada, when hordes of families flock to Florida, Mexico and other sunspots served by the airline — one of the busiest travel times of the year.

“We deeply regret that this had to happen. The decision to cease operations was only taken after difficult deliberation,” said Jetsgo president Michel Leblanc.

Jetsgo said that difficult market conditions and competitive pressures led the company to discontinue operations and ground all of its planes.

“We are very concerned about our customers and the significant hardship that this action causes. In the meantime, we encourage our passengers to contact their travel agent or an alternative airline.”

A spokesman for arch-rival WestJet said the carrier would do its best to take care of Jetsgo passengers.

“I’m sure there’s going to be some who are a little upset, who bought Jetsgo tickets, and I certainly think we’re going to do whatever we can to make sure we accommodate everybody we possibly can,” operations vice-president Tim Morgan said from Calgary.

“We would hate to leave people stranded anywhere, so we’ll do what we can.”

Air Canada spokeswoman Laura Cooke said the timing of Jetsgo’s failure would make it tough to find seats for extra passengers.

“Obviously, the problem at this time of year is that the aircraft are already flying rather full because . . . of March break,” Cooke said.

Air Canada cannot honour Jetsgo tickets but said it would try to make more aircraft and seats available for Jetsgo passengers to purchase.

Jetsgo had at least 18 flights scheduled to leave Toronto’s Pearson’s Airport — Canada’s transport hub — this morning, including domestic, U.S. and Mexican destinations.

There were at least 10 flights scheduled to land at Pearson on Monday morning from Canadian cities coast to coast.

Hours after the company issued its release, its website was still active with no note to travellers on the situation.

The company said in its statement that consumers who have paid for Jetsgo tickets should communicate with the Canadian Transportation Agency or provincial consumer affairs ministries.

Recent problems at the discount airliner built up something of a backlash against the company, even leading some travellers to launch a website — www.jetsgosucks.com.

The site documents one person’s bad travel experience with Jetsgo and has a section with discussion forums, with more than 200 topics dealing with the airline.

The airline had several problems with cancellations this winter, stranding hundreds of passengers during one heavy snowfall.

And the federal Air Travel Complaints Commission said that while the gripes it received about all airlines had fallen last year, Jetsgo bucked the trend by disappointing its customers more than it had in the previous year.

Air Travel Complaints Commissioner Lacroix Kenniff expressed doubt about how the company was handling the criticism.

“I . . . have some concerns about the way in which Jetsgo deals with the complaints it receives,” she said last October.

Jetsgo also had problems with Transport Canada last month over deficiencies in its flight manuals, which led to it having an operating certificate revoked.

That forced the airline to fly at 28,000 feet instead of between 29,000 and 41,000 feet, a costly move that made flights less efficient for fuel consumption.

In today’s statement, Jetsgo said it would be asking that Quebec Superior Court immediately grant it protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.

Leblanc founded the privately held company in June 2002 from the ashes of Canada 3000 Inc., which collapsed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks battered its business and it faced rising competition.

Leblanc had run a successful charter carrier, Montreal-based Royal Airlines, but he sold it to Canada 3000 and became a senior executive with the expanded company before leaving in a dispute with Canada 3000’s management.