WestJet headquarters in Calgary. (Photo by Greenwood714, shared under a Creative Commons license)
WestJet on Thursday announced July 2010 traffic results with a load factor of 80.7 per cent, up 4.3 points year over year and a 130 percent jump in Q2 net earnings.
The airliner said in a statement that revenue passenger miles (RPMs), or traffic, increased 18.2 per cent year over year, and capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASMs), grew 11.9 per cent over the same period.
WestJet President and CEO Gregg Saretsky said the company is “encouraged with our fifth straight month of double-digit traffic increases and the year-over-year load factor improvement given the capacity increase.”
“New strategic initiatives, such as our WestJet Frequent Guest Program […] are contributing nicely to growth,” said Saretsky.
According to company numbers, an additional 161,000 passengers flew WestJet compared to July 2009.
The company also reported Q2 2010 net earnings of $21 million, or 14 cents per diluted share, which marks its 21st consecutive quarter of profitability and a 130 per cent increase in net earnings, year-over-year.
WestJet reported an operating margin of 6.6 per cent, compared to 6.9 per cent in Q2 of 2009. The pre-tax margin was 5.4 per cent, compared to 2.6 per cent in the same 2009 period.
In July, WestJet announced seasonal non-stop service to New Orleans, Grand Cayman and Santa Clara, Cuba, and seasonal non-stop flights from several Canadian cities to Montego Bay, Jamaica.
