Westjet planned to reduce dividend

The CEO of WestJet airline, Greg Saretsky increased the ticket price by 2 per cent. This price rise was due to the result of falling Canadian dollar in international market, and it was reported that there may be more rise in fare. The officer also said that there may be more hike in the fair due to various reasons. Another flight companies also raise the ticket price to match WestJet's price rise. The CEO further added that there will be no price rise in package tours. Bob Cumming, the Sales vice President announced WestJet won't add currency surcharge to vacations. He said that he respects the shareholders and there are facing the currency situations.

The increase in flights to sunny places may decrease the chances of ticket price, spoken by Cameron Doerkesen of National Bank Financial. WestJet is increasing their capacity whereas Air Canada would increased more seats in flights to destinations like Las Vegas and the Caribbean. 
The travelling cost is increased through ancillary charges like change of reservations, cancelling flights and purchasing food.  Now the passengers pay nearly $10.09 more than previous year and help WestJet to increase its revenue.

Due to the lack of technology, the charges on first bag to USA and Canada are on hold so that will help grow more loyal customers. All the passengers are charged for more than on bag. The charge on first bag by Air Canada is not certain, added by Saretsky. The unhedged operating costs are adversely affected by each cent decrease in penny. 

The airline company will reduce its dividend share from 20 percent to 12 percent. WestJet traded as WJA in Toronto Stock Exchange was noticed of $67.8 million of income in last quarter and revenue rise of $100 million. The expenses generally reduce which exclude fuel and profit shares.
The flights for Dublin and Ireland are fully booked and there is plan to add more destinations by couple of years. The share price increased by 85 cents and reached at $25.70 on afternoon of Tuesday.

 Opinion

 The falling of Canadian Dollar has resulted dinto price hike of all the airplanes. And if the Canadian dollar go futher low, there may be chances of further fare increase. And this price increase will effect the travelling passengers. The divedend share is also reduced to keep prices low. The company has to every possible effort to make prices low.

Question 1.
How dividend share will effect the WestJet's revenue?

Question 2
How WestJet survive the Financial crisis?

Bibliography

Marowits, R. (2014, February 4). WestJet to raise quarterly dividend. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from GlobalNews.ca: http://globalnews.ca/news/1127107/westjet-to-raise-quarterly-dividend/

WestJet to renegotiate with online travel agencies like Expedia and Travelocity

There was an agreement between Calgary- based airline company WestJet and Sabre Travel Network on the noon of Friday. WestJet had nearly ended the contract with famous websites that provide online booking.  It took more than a year to renew its contract with travel websites. 

WestJet’s ticket booking system is provide by Sabre Travel network which also provides distribution service travel industry and used by many agents to make reservation of flights and hotels online.

There was news in October, according to which WestJet would stop using Sabre from 26 January. The main reason behind this announcement was the charges by Sabre which was $5 per every flight, hotel room or rented car. The price was the key concern in the meetings of WestJet and Sabre.

Bob Cummings, the vice-president of sales and marketing said that airline is putting every effort to keep prices low. He further added that margins are very less and cost of sales is very important to them.

The biggest online travel agency in world is Expedia. The air industry analyst Robert Kokonis said that WestJet would want to be in that position where there is lot of engagement in Expedia and WestJet would not be there.

Expedia sold how many tickets for WestJet, there is no data available. The sales of WestJet from its website are almost half and from Expedia it is five to seven percent of total sales.

 Opinion

Expedia and Travelocity are the largest online travel agencies in world. WestJet will loose large share of customers if they cut off with these online companies. They should see the benefits rather than cost charge by external companies. They will loose large number of customers doing so. So WestJet must negotiate with Expedia on this matter and renew their licenses.

Question 1

Why the online travel agencies are important source of tickets for WestJet?

Question 2

How can WestJet make their reservation system better?

Bibliography

Johnson, T. (2014, January 24). WestJet reaches deal to stay on Expedia, Travelocity. Retrieved January 21, 2014, from cbc.ca: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/westjet-reaches-deal-to-stay-on-expedia-travelocity-1.2509414

New flights from Toronto planned by WestJet Encore service.

The Calgary-based airline disclosed its expansion of regional Encore service to east on Monday. The new regional Encore will begin 27 June which include new flights between Toronto, Winnipeg and Thunder Bay.

WestJet has been expanding its inland service since June and consider its base as Western Canada. 72-seat Q400 airplane from Bombardier is used to provide services but there is no plan to increase number of route. Encore will increase the capacity growth in 2014 from 4 to 6 percent.

The first city in Ontario is Thunder Bay which is selected for Encore service. The city is already doing well and situated in range of planes.  Currently, there is fleet of eight Bombardier Q400 planes and it would be increased to 45 airplanes to various locations in North America.

Brie Thorsteinson Ogle spokesman wrote that WestJet will slowly add new flights depending on the previous success. At the same time he was not sure for the beginning of US Encore service. There will be added flights from Fort McMurray to Kelowna, B.C and start its service in May.

There would be uninterrupted flights to Las Vegas and more often to Calgary and Edmonton. WestJet decided this year to start trips to Dublin and Ireland from St. John’s, New Foundland. The added flights, in-flight service and continuous service will draw attention of business and tourist travelers.

Rather than using Boeing 737, Q400 would be used to provide service between Toronto and New York. The share price of WestJet closed with the increase of 4 cents at $27.12

Opinion

WestJet has to increase the number of flights to stay ahead of competition. With the increase of flights in-flight experience, reservation system should also be updated. The company should provide internet so business users can check emails. There should be more scheduled flights for the busy cities to increase company revenue.

Question 1

How can WestJet increase its revenue without spending on new airflights?

Qestion 2

How can be in-flight experience benefit leisure seeking passengers?

Bibliography

Marowits, R. (2014, January 20). WestJet unveils launch of Encore eastern expansion with first service in Toronto . Retrieved February 22, 2014, from TheGlobeAndMail.com: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/westjet-unveils-launch-of-encore-eastern-expansion-with-first-service-in-toronto/article16406807/

The new features decided for the WestJet airplanes

WestJet Airline Company has proposed to change all their seat back television screens with their new entertainment system which will allow seeing TV, movies and Internet while travelling. There is also plan to install new satellite system of pan sonic company on one aircraft. The following years they will install new features like slim line seats, USB and power outlets in other aircrafts. Now there would be option to rent free or paid content if the travelling passenger has forgotten his device at home. Presently, there is live television which would be replaced by better system which would help business tourists to increase their productivity. About 75 per cent of passengers bring their own devices so they surf internet, check their emails and do work on flights.
Brie Ogle, the spokeswoman said that WestJet had the old seat back television from the long time which would be change with new one for their customers. On Friday, WestJet said that the extra charges have not been yet decided but revenue generated will increase. Airline is trying to increase in flight experience and revenue with every opportunity. According to Walter Spracklin of RBC Dominion Securities, WestJet is making only half ancillary revenue as compared to other North American competitor.
Air Canada the main competitor of WestJet is also testing in flight Wi-Fi system. They know that technology is growing very fast with this trail effort. That is why Canada’s largest airline has decided to change their entertainment system for their passengers. Air Transat has upgraded their A330 which offer movies, TV and musical programs.

Summary

All the competitors like Air Canada, Air Transat are upgrading flight experiences with new entertainment system and television system. So the WestJet has decided to refurbish their air planes for their customers. This will help WestJet to stay in competition and increase their revenue. Internet option will provide customers with services like email so they can also be connected with work during flights. The whole new features will get WestJet ahead of competition and provide better services to customers.

Questions 1

What other features does WestJet can add to increase their inflight experience?

Question 2

How the Wi-Fi option will provide productivity to business passengers of WestJet?

Bibliography

Marowits, R. (2014, February 14). WestJet removing seat-back TV monitors in favour of WiFi system. Retrieved February 23, 2014, from The Globe And Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/westjet-removing-all-seat-back-tv-monitors-in-favour-of-wi-fi-system/article16902678/

 

Emergeny Landing of WestJet flight

WestJet passengers used oxygen masks and were asked to hold tight when the flight observed problem with pressurization.

Robert Palmer said that Boing 737-700 was flying from Phoenix to Winnipeg on the night of Friday, when the problem was discovered.

Noticing the problem, pilots lower the altitude from 12000 meters to less than 3000 meters in no time and declared emergency in airplane. He added that plane was grounded at nearest airport in South Dakota. The hotel in Rapid City was used for the stay of passengers overnight. The reason behind the pressurization system was not detected yet and investigation is going on.

Palmer added that this type of problems is not common and it happened some years back to WestJet’s plane and this time landing was faster than earlier landings. He said it is nothing what happen in movies and landing normally takes minutes.

Safety Boards of United States and Canada are happy with WestJet’s quick response and they will not be investigating the issue.

Opinion

WestJet's crew is highly admired of what they did during emergency situation. westJet also responded quick to media and there were no need of further investigation.

Question 1
What should crew do in emergency landings?

Question 2
What WestJet do to prevent such accidents?

Bibliography

Press, C. (2014, January 11). WestJet Plane Makes Rapid Descent After Pressure Problem . Retrieved February 25, 2014, from huffingtonpost.ca: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/01/11/westjet-plane-pressure-problem_n_4582708.html