The Air Travel Guide
Posts tagged westjet
Canadian Airlines Thriving In a Down Economy
0655 days
by Bradley
in Canadian Airlines
image credit: mogomoney.com
WestJet announced today that they’ve been able to reach their 21st consecutive quarter of increased earnings, with this quarter being able to scrummage up $21 million. This is a 130 per cent increase over the last year. The airline also said that their operating margin was 6.6 per cent, down from 6.9 per cent during the same time last year. This is very impressive, and WestJet seems to be one of the fastest growing airlines in the world at the moment. With that said, a large portion of WestJet’s revenue comes from their — in most cases — unnecessarily high pricing.
Air Canada has also reported that they’ve been doing better than previous years. Passenger revenues for the airline increased a whopping 12 per cent from the same quarter of last year. Air Canada credits the 8.6 per cent traffic growth throughout the past year for this jump. Furthermore, Air Canada has increased their capacity by 5.4 per cent in the second quarter due to increased international customers.
Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada says “Asian and European markets in which we added capacity are performing well, led by our Pacific routes which recorded a 37 per cent increase in revenue from the previous year’s quarter on strong traffic and yield growth.” He also stated that “Much of this international traffic growth can be attributed to our added focus on capturing connecting traffic at our Toronto and other Canadian hubs, as well as to our participation in the A++ transatlantic joint venture, which is in the process of being finalized.”
Air Canada Jazz was the only one out of the three airlines to post losses for this quarter. They were able to earn a net income of only $15.6 million, which is down from $25.4 million a year ago. However, on a positive note, Jazz also announced that their total operating expenses decreased by $4.8 million to $332.1 million.
As mentioned earlier, the increased profits by Canadian airlines is likely due to their price hikes throughout the past year, especially in the western part of Canada. Airlines lately have been paying special attention to eastern routes, with WestJet offering fares under $30 between Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto.
Alaska Airlines To Provide British Columbians With Service To Honolulu
0655 days
If you’ve lived in the Lower Mainland of BC, you’ll know that many people choose to use the Bellingham airport over Vancouver International because of the price discounts you get when you travel from the US. Also, most of us are familiar that WestJet has been dominating the Honolulu route from Vancouver. Well this may not be the case in the next few months, as Alaska Airlines has announced that they’ll be providing non-stop service from Bellingham to Honolulu daily.
All though it may note appear noticeable immediately, this new route poses a direct threat to Canadian airlines servicing Hawaii destinations. Flights are cheaper in the United States and Bellingham is extremely close to the Canadian border. There’s no doubt that hundreds, if not thousands of Canadian airline passengers cross the American border to take advantage of these amazing deals. I have no doubt that they’ll be taking advantage of this route to.
Throughout the past couple of years, WestJet has been dominating this route out of YVR. Currently, they have two flights heading to Honolulu daily, however, the cost is extremely expensive compared to leaving out of Bellingham via Alaska Airlines. In fact, the average price for a round trip ticket to Honolulu through WestJet is around $930. Compare this to an Alaska Airlines flight out of Bellingham costing just under $452 if you find the right date. Now admittedly, Alaska’s price depends on when you book your flight, however, this easily beats any offer that WestJet is offering.
I find it quite interesting just how easy it is to find a cheap flight if you leave from Bellingham airport. For example, Allegiant Airlines has direct flights to Phoenix, Arizona for much less than it would if you depart from YVR. What’s even more amazing is the fact that no Canadian airline seems to be making any attempt at providing competition to flights leaving out of Bellingham (ie: WestJet lowering their costs to Honolulu from Vancouver.)
Yet again, it seems that Canadians are going to have to commute to the US to get a good deal on flights.
Canadian Airline Traffic Figures Look Promising
0671 days
by Bradley
in Canadian Airlines
NAV Canada announced the airline traffic, figures for June 2010 today, which is measured in weighted charging units.
According to their stats, traffic in June increased on average by about 3 percent in comparison to June of 2009. However, the fiscal year so far isn’t doing so well, with 1.6 percent lower ridership than 2009. It should also be noted that NAV Canada’s fiscal year is from September 1 to August 31.
This is no doubt not good for major airlines in Canada. We’ve already seen WestJet and Air Canada drop routes from their schedule, as fare prices have been rising as of late. Perhaps this year’s travel season will provide more promise.
With that said, as I mentioned in my article about Canadians Paying a premium for airfare, there have been major discounts offered by Canadian airlines, specifically in the eastern regions of the country. The routes that have really been hurting customers in their pocket books, however, are regional routes serving smaller cities. It would be nice to see Air Canada and WestJet decrease their ticket prices for these cities in the near future, as flying is just not a viable option for residents with the prices the way they are.
Loading ...
Recent Comments