WestJet boosts load factor in December

WestJet Airlines Ltd. pushed its revenueload factor in December above 80 per cent for the first time since August, the company said Wednesday.

The Calgary-based airline said 81.7 per cent of its available seats were occupied by paying customers in the last month of the year.

The December figures were more than five percentage points higher than November's load number of 75.9 per cent and more than eight per cent higher than December 2008.

"We are very pleased with our strong December load factor, which is accompanied by RPM growth of over eight per cent and 42,000 additional guests compared to December last year," saidSean Durfy, WestJet's president and chief executive officer.

December turning

December's gain of 8.1 per cent versus the same month in 2008 also compared favourably to November 2009. WestJet's percentage of paying passengers in that month fell marginally compared to November 2008.

The airline hit some bumpy weather in late 2009 as its new SabreSonic reservation system failed toperform as well as expected, leading to numerous customer complaints.

Overall,WestJet still made money for the first nine months of 2009. But its earnings of $78 millionfor the January-to-September period represented a drop of 43 per cent compared toWestJet'sprofit during the first three quarters of 2008.

WestJet's2009 results, however,reflected the financial credit crisis of late 2008 whenbusinesses cut travel substantially and nervous consumers decided to stay home. By contrast, the company's earnings for the first three quarters of 2008 were affected only marginally by the economic downturn.

For all of 2009, WestJet's load factor slumped to 78.1 per cent, a reduction of 1.4 per cent versus 2008.

Air Canada, the country's largest airline, experienced a large drop in its November load factor. The percentage of paying passengers to total available seats slipped to 74.7 per cent in the second last month of 2009, a decrease of 2.9 per cent compared to the one year earlier period.