News Releases

WestJet Continues Momentum with Another Month of Strong Results

CALGARY, Nov. 7 /CNW/ - WestJet (TSX:WJA) today announced solid traffic
results for the month of October with increases in load factor and impressive
gains in capacity and revenue passenger miles. WestJet's available seat miles
(ASMs) for October 2006 increased 22 per cent to 1,102.7 million, up from
905.2 million in October 2005. Year to date, ASMs have increased 16 per cent
to 10,312.3 million, up from 8,890.5 million in the same 10-month period in
2005.
"These traffic results are a clear indication that our network deployment
approach of adjusting capacity to meet market demand is working and on track,"
commented Sean Durfy, President. "October's strong traffic results were
achieved while growing capacity by 22 per cent. In the fourth quarter we will
increase capacity by 23 per cent while delivering strong load factors and
comparable year-over-year RASM results."
WestJet's load factor for October 2006 was 74.9 per cent, compared with
73.5 per cent in October 2005, representing an increase of 1.4 points. During
the first 10 months of 2006, the Company's load factor increased 4.3 points to
78.7 per cent compared with 74.4 per cent during the same period in 2005.
Revenue passenger miles (RPMs) also increased 24 per cent to 826.3
million, up from 665.6 million in October 2005. Year to date, RPMs increased
23 per cent to 8,115.8 million from 6,616.4 million over the same period in
2005.
Marking its tenth anniversary this year, WestJet is Canada's leading
low-fare airline offering scheduled service throughout its 35-city North
American and Caribbean network. Named Canada's most admired corporate culture
in 2006, WestJet pioneered low-cost high-value flying in Canada. With
increased legroom and leather seats on its modern fleet of Boeing
Next-Generation 737 aircraft, and live seatback television provided by Bell
ExpressVu on the majority of its fleet, WestJet strives to be the number one
choice for travellers.