WestJet Breaks Passenger Numbers Record

WestJet released its traffic figures for March and the first quarter of 2017 on Thursday showing record passenger numbers in Q1.

The Calgary-based airline flew 2 million passengers in March, and 5.7 million in the quarter to end March, a record high.

Passenger traffic in revenue passenger miles (RPM) for March rose 8.7 percent on an available seat miles (ASM) capacity increase of 7.4 percent. The resulting load factor was 84.1 percent, a 0.9 percentage point increase on March 2016.

For the first quarter, WestJet grew ASM capacity by 5.6 percent and RPM traffic by 6.8 percent, with load factor also up 0.9 percentage points at 83.0 percent.

“We continue to be pleased with our strong traffic growth as a record number of guests chose to fly with us in the first quarter," WestJet chief executive Gregg Saretsky said in a statement.

WestJet said that during the quarter it had expanded its reciprocal frequent flyer agreement with Delta on some of the US carrier’s international routes including to Paris, Tokyo, Rome and Madrid.