WestJet Passenger Traffic Strong throughout December

WestJet announced today that it had record passenger traffic in December 2011. Reaching a load factor of 80.9 per cent, which ties for its second highest December traffic ever, traffic was a direct result of holiday travel.

Overall in 2011, passenger traffic for WestJet increased eight per cent in comparison to the previous year while capacity grew 7.1 per cent.

"We finished the year with strong traffic results confirming that our capacity continues to be absorbed by the market. We flew nearly 1.4 million guests this month, a new December record," said WestJet President and CEO Gregg Saretsky. "We also achieved a new single-day record by flying approximately 53,000 guests across our network on December 23. On a full-year basis, we have flown over 867,000 additional guests in 2011 versus last year and my thanks go to WestJetters for their unwavering commitment to caring for our guests during the very busy holiday travel period."

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Because of this growth in December, WestJet predicts revenue per available seat mile (RASM) growth in its Q4 to be higher than previously estimated, reaching close to its Q3 figures.

Additionally, today, WestJet announced its company-wide seat sale. The annual WestJet seat sale is the company’s largest sales for the year. This year is especially exciting as WestJet’s advertising for the seat sale features all-in advertising, showing the total cost of the flight including taxes and fees. This makes WestJet the first airline in Canada to follow government regulation when to comes to airline advertising.