Category: Uncategorized
August 8

WestJet announces a July load factor of 79.7 per cent

Airline reports 18.3 per cent increase in revenue passenger miles

WestJet today announced July traffic statistics with a load factor of 79.7 per cent, capacity measured in available seat miles of 1.558 billion and revenue passenger miles of 1.242 billion.

\"Given our substantial growth in capacity, we are pleased with our strong load factor,\" commented Sean Durfy, WestJet President and CEO. \"As Canada\'s favourite airline, we continue to pick up more domestic capacity share month over month and now have 37 per cent of the domestic capacity. This July we had more than 100,000 additional guests flying with us than we did a year ago; this is in large part due to our great guest experience and high-value business model. \"The recent introduction of pre-reserved seat selection as a new service has already proven to be successful. We are confident in our ability to offer guests enhanced services without compromising our value-inclusive fares. We are proud that our business model allows us to continue to offer our guests two free checked bags, free call centre bookings, free snacks and free seat selection when checking in on the web within 24 hours of their flight.\"
                          July 2008 Traffic Results

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                                   July 2008      July 2007       Change
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    Load Factor                      79.7%          82.6%       (2.9) pts.
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    Available Seat Miles (ASM)   1.558 billion  1.270 billion      22.7%
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    Revenue Passenger
     Miles (RPM)                 1.242 billion  1.050 billion      18.3%
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                                 Year-to-date   Year-to-date
                                     2008           2007          Change
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    Load Factor                      80.5%          81.3%       (0.8) pts.
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    Available Seat Miles (ASM)   9.858 billion  8.208 billion      20.1%
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    Revenue Passenger
     Miles (RPM)                 7.939 billion  6.669 billion      19.0%
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Sean Durfy continued, \"Third quarter RASM is tracking to comparable year-over-year levels. I am very proud of the efforts of our WestJetters for embracing the challenges we have faced in the first half of the year while continuing to deliver on our great guest experience.\"

This disclosure may contain forward-looking statements and is subject to, and may be affected by, numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond WestJet\'s control. WestJet\'s results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to: changes in government policy, exchange rates, interest rates, disruption of supplies, volatility of fuel prices, terrorism, general economic conditions, the competitive environment and other factors described in WestJet\'s public reports and filings. Forward-looking statements are subject to change and WestJet does not undertake to update, correct or revise any forward-looking information as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise.

About WestJet

WestJet is Canada\'s leading high-value low-cost airline offering scheduled service throughout its 51-city North American and Caribbean network. Named Canada\'s most admired corporate culture in 2005, 2006 and 2007, WestJet pioneered low-cost flying in Canada. WestJet offers increased legroom and leather seats on its modern fleet of 76 Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft and live seatback television provided by Bell ExpressVu. With future confirmed deliveries for an additional 45 aircraft, bringing its fleet to 121 by 2013, WestJet strives to be the number one choice for travellers.

SOURCE: WestJet

Media Contacts: Gillian Bentley, Media Relations, telephone: 1-888-WJ 4 NEWS (1-888-954-6397), e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.