Canada's Best: WestJet - Ken Donohue

Cummings admits that the second category is difficult tomeasure, while noting that the company has looked atmethods from around the world. The airline’s completionrate—not canceling flights, on-time performance, anddelivering baggage to passengers within 15 minutes ofarrival—rounds out the scorecard. “We’ll never be thelargest airline in the world, but we feel we can be one ofthe best airlines in the world,” asserts Cummings.Historically, WestJet has eschewed the trappings oftraditional air carriers, but is poised to introduce its ownfrequent flyer program early in 2010. “We have peoplethat fly with us six and ten times a year, but we don’t havea rewards program,” explains Cummings. “Ours will bedifferent than others, based on dollar spend.”WestJet prides itself on its customer service, which toits credit is better than most airlines. Sometimes it’s thelittle things that make the difference between an averageairline and a good one. For example, on a recent flightwith my family, the check-in agent noticed that we weretravelling with two young children, so she blocked offan entire row of six seats for us. With all of the airline’saccolades, often forgotten is that WestJet is still a LCC.While passengers are offered a complimentary soft drinkand package of cookies, the airline has a modest buy-onboardprogram. This was never a big issue when the airlinewas flying short stages, but as it expands across Canada, toHawai‘i, and into the Caribbean, passengers are spendingmore hours onboard. To be fair, however, most airlines inNorth America have lowered their product levels to thelow-cost model, doing away with meal service on manyroutes. WestJet offers 24 channels of seat-back satelliteTV on each of its single-class 737s, along with pay-perviewtelevision programming and movies. There are somelimitations to the satellite TV because the signal is lost overlarge stretches of ocean.Although WestJet’s low-cost model allows it toweather economic storms better than some airlines, it isnot immune to this global quagmire. “There is no questionthat we have seen, and have been negatively impacted by, aglobal softening in demand for travel and travel products,”notes Cummings. “We have committed to our WestJettersthat we will do everything in our power to avoid layoffs.Instead, we are working closely with them to find waysto trim C$25 million [US$23.1 million] from our annualoperating budget. So far, they have come up with someexcellent suggestions and we are taking a serious look atevery one of them.” WestJet has no plans to cut routes,although flight frequencies may be adjusted.Carrying more than 14 million passengers a year,and with one of the best on-time performance rates inNorth America, WestJet has been profitable in all but ahandful of quarters in its 13-year history. A remarkableachievement given the formidable challenges the industryhas faced over the past decade. Expect more of the samefrom an airline that has become one of the world’s mostsuccessful airlines. ✈Fast Facts—WestJet AirlinesIATA: WS ICAO: WJA IATA/ARC: 838 Radio: Westjet22 Aerial Place NETel: +1 403 444 2700CalgaryAlberta T2E 3J1CanadaWebsite: www.westjet.comCities served: Canada: Abbotsford, Calgary, Charlottetown,Comox, Deer Lake, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie,Halifax, Hamilton, Kamloops, Kelowna, Kitchener-Waterloo,London, Moncton, Montréal, Ottawa, Prince George, QuébecCity, Regina, Saint John, Saskatoon, St John’s, Sydney, ThunderBay, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg, YellowknifeUSA: Atlantic City, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Kaua‘i (Lihue),Honolulu, Kona, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Maui (Kahului),Miami, New York (Newark), Orlando, Palm Springs, Phoenix,San Diego, San Francisco, TampaMéxico: Cabo San Lucas, Cancún, Cozumel, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Mazatlán, Puerto VallartaCaribbean:Bridgetown, Barbados; Cayo Coco, Cuba; Freetown, Bahamas;Holguín, Cuba; La Romana, Dominican Republic; Montego Bay,Jamaica; Nassau, Bahamas; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic;Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; St Lucia (Hewanorra); StMaarten [Sint Maarten], Netherlands Antilles [NederlandseAntillen]; Providenciales, Turks and Caicos; Varadero, CubaFounded: June 27, 1994 (as 616373 Alberta Ltd);name changed to WestJet Airlines LtdMay 30, 1995Start date: February 29, 1996CEO: Sean DurfyOwnership: Publicly traded company (TSX: WJA)FleetType N O Seats EnginesBoeing 737-600 13 Y119 CFMI CFM56-7B-22Boeing 737-700 58 Y136 CFMI CFM56-7B-22;-22/3; -24/3Boeing 737-800 10 Y166 CFMI CFM56-7B-26;-26/3On OrderBoeing 737-700 52 due 2009 (4), 2010 (4),2011 (7), 2012 (7), 2013 (6),2014 (6), 2015 (10), 2016 (8)Boeing 737-800 2 due Dec09, 2010Airways21