Buzz. Zip. Go. Wizz. Scoot. Jazz. Click. Zoom. Joon. Rouge. Ted. song. Hop! The trend of monosyllabic aviation monikers lost yet another airline on Sunday, October 29, 2023 when WestJet Airways swooped Swoop back into its operations.
WestJet Airways Swooped Swoop Back Into Its Operations
“What happens when you mix Magenta and Teal? Well, technically it’s purple — but in this case, it’s more low fares to more destinations now that Swoop aircraft are a part of the WestJet fleet”, according to what was the official Internet web site of Swoop, which currently promotes the “merger” as being “better together” as the colorful tails of both airlines are featured. “On October 29, 2023, Swoop and WestJet merged to provide even more affordable airfares to more cities throughout the WestJet network with the WestJet guest experience you’ve come to expect. We can’t wait to see you onboard.”
Swoop joins at least eight of the aforementioned airlines which are no longer in business:
- Ted was a low-cost subsidiary of United Airlines, from which the name was derived: UniTED.
- song was a low-cost subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.
- buzz was a British low-cost airline operating services within Europe. It was founded in 1999 as a subsidiary of Dutch national airline KLM Royal Dutch Airways. It is not to be confused with the Polish subsidiary of Ryanair which sports the same name.
- Zip was a Canadian discount airline headquartered at Calgary International Airport
- Zoom was a Canadian low-fare scheduled transatlantic airline with its headquarters in Ottawa in Ontario.
- Joon was a French airline based at Charles de Gaulle Airport, north of Paris. Founded in 2017 as a subsidiary of Air France
- Go was an ultra-low-cost airline based in Mumbai in India.
- Click was an airline that was based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
Air France continued with the trend of monosyllabic aviation monikers by branding the result of the merging of its regional carriers Hop! back in 2013.
Final Boarding Call
I wrote the following paragraph in this article titled Are Too Many Brands Diluting the Lodging Experience For Guests? on Sunday, August 27, 2023
Perhaps lodging companies should take a cue from airlines, which are costlier and more restrictive to operate. Remember when airlines tried to launch new airline subsidiaries as their own separate brands — such as song with Delta Air Lines, Ted with United Airlines, and Continental Lite with Continental Airlines? None of those ideas worked; but the Basic Economy fare — or, at least, the avoidance of it by passengers — has been successful for the airlines. No new brand needed to be created.
Branding is expensive — especially with regard to hotel properties and airplanes. Unless the new brand truly is differentiated from the legacy brand of the same company and both markets are well served, creating a new brand is little more than a superfluous exercise…
…but when I see an airline with a colorful brand that has a monosyllabic moniker, I tend to automatically think ultra-low cost with a fee for everything — and as illustrated by the aforementioned failed airline brands over the years, that may not necessarily be a good thing…
Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
