WESTJET SETS TRAFFIC RECORDS
WestJet says its airplanes flew fuller than ever in August as it set records for the most passengers moved in a month. The Calgary-based airline reports moving 2.3 million people last month, an increase of almost 14 per cent or 288,000 compared with August 2016. CEO Gregg Saretsky says the August passenger numbers were the highest for one month in WestJet’s 21 years of operation, and the one-day record was broken on Aug. 8, when a total of 81,423 guests got on board. Its August load factor was 90.6 per cent, which means on average fewer than 10 per cent of the seats were vacant. RBC transportation analyst Walter Spracklin points out WestJet’s increase in traffic in August impressively came in at almost double its increase in capacity through service additions over the past year. “We are extremely pleased with our double-digit traffic growth,” Saretsky said in a statement.