Westjet 1999 Annual Report Download - page 5

On behalf of WestJet Airlines,
I would like to thank you
for embracing our company.
I am very pleased to present WestJet’s
Financial Results for 1999, a year in
which there was certainly much for us
to celebrate. We added more people,
more aircraft and more destinations,
while continuing to maintain the
corporate culture and low-fare strategy
that have made us so successful over
the past four years.
WestJet embraces
our achievements.
Our financial success continued
through 1999 and we saw a 143%
increase in net earnings, to $15.8
million from $6.5 million in 1998.
Earnings per share (fully diluted)
also more than doubled from 28 cents
in 1998 to 58 cents in 1999. We were
also pleased to celebrate with our
employees a $6.6 million profit share
distribution, which represented a
substantial increase from the $1.7
million distributed in 1998.
We expanded our fleet by five
aircraft during 1999, and retired one
aircraft from service pending sale.
As of December 31 we had a total
of 16 aircraft in our fleet. The
additional aircraft were used to
expand our summer schedule and to
provide service to the three newest
WestJet destinations.
Our on-time performance contin-
ued to improve throughout 1999 – we
have one of the best records in the
industry – while our number of delayed
and cancelled flights decreased.
Our schedule of flights increased
throughout 1999 up from 404 flights
operating per week at the end of 1998
to 590 per week as of December 31,
1999. This growth took us past the
milestone of carrying our 5,000,000th
guest onboard our flight between
Thunder Bay and Calgary on
November 30.
In 1999 WestJet added three
permanent destinations – Thunder Bay,
Ontario, Prince George, British
Columbia and Grande Prairie, Alberta.
We also operated a Limited Addition
service to Brandon, Manitoba and
Grande Prairie, Alberta. Through the
Limited Addition product, we are able
to bring low fares on a temporary basis
to communities that do not enjoy
WestJet’s scheduled service. Based on
the success of the Limited Addition
service to Grande Prairie, we added
permanent service to this market.
WestJet became a public company
through an Initial Public Offering on
July 13 at $10.00 per share. The shares
were listed on the Toronto Stock
Exchange under the symbol WJA and
closed the year at $18.65 per share.
WestJet welcomed two new
members to our Board of Directors:
Mr. Larry Pollock, President and
CEO of Canadian Western Bank
and Canadian Western Trust, and
Mr. Donald A. MacDonald, the
President of Sanjel Corporation. Both
new directors bring a wealth of
business experience to our Board
and we appreciate their contribution
and direction.
WestJet embraces
our people.
The dedication of our people
remains the primary reason for our
WestJet Airlines 1999 Annual Report
3
Embracing
the Future!