WestJet revenue from managed corporate business increased 9
percent year over year in the third quarter, though the carrier still has ample
room to grow in the business sector, president and CEO Gregg Saretsky said.
Revenue from WestJet's Premium Economy fares rose 19 percent
year over year, which indicated "great success" in attracting
business travelers, he said. Even so, the carrier's business travel share
remains "under-indexed" with a 24 percent share of the Canadian business
travel market compared with a 37 percent share of the market overall.
It hopes its Premium Economy product, which it generally
prices lower than chief competitor Air Canada's highest economy fares, will
continue to gain it ground on the corporate side. "It challenges the myth
that the business traveler isn't price sensitive," EVP commercial Ed Sims
said. "They are extremely price sensitive … and far more conscious [of
price] than they've ever been."
WestJet projects its business travel share will get another
boost in 2019 when it begins service on Boeing Dreamliner aircraft.
Swoop
On the other side of the pricing scale, WestJet is on target
to launch an ultra-low-cost
carrier, Swoop, in the summer of 2018. While WestJet has not revealed
schedule details for the Calgary-based carrier, Saretsky said it will largely
fly on different routes from WestJet's network and will operate as a separate
airline on its own reservations system.
Total revenue for WestJet increased 8.1 percent to 1.2
billion Canadian dollars year over year during the quarter. Traffic increased
7.9 percent as WestJet increased capacity 5.8 percent, pushing load factor up
1.7 percentage points to 85.7 percent, the carrier's highest quarterly load
factor ever, according to CFO and EVP of finance Harry Taylor.
WestJet reported net earnings of C$138.4 million for the
quarter, up 19.4 percent year over year.
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