Westjet 2012 Annual Report Download - page 4

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WestJet 2012 Annual Report / 4
/ President’s message
Since joining WestJet in 2009, I have enjoyed working with a tremendously hard-working
team and seeing record results from work done by people who are passionate about their
company, their co-workers, and our guests. This teamwork is the foundation of our success
and of the positive momentum we’ve built, all of which will carry us forward as we embark
on exciting new initiatives in 2013 and beyond.
This year’s annual report has building momentum as its theme, and I encourage you to view
the online version of the report at westjet.com/buildingmomentum. In this report, you’ll
discover some of the key elements of what makes us unique and appreciated by our guests,
as well as seeing why we’re confident and excited about our future.
We have built on our long trend of profitable growth, and 2012 marks our eighth consecutive
year of profitability and the 16th time we have reported an annual profit in our 17-year
history. In fact, our diluted earnings per share for 2012 reached a record $1.78, a 67.9 per
cent increase over 2011. We reported
$3.4 billion in revenue, 11.6 per cent higher than in 2011,
saw a 7.1 per cent increase in RASM for the year, and reached a return on invested capital
of 13.7 per cent for the 12 months ending December 31, 2012, the second consecutive quarter
in which we surpassed our target of 12 per cent.
In 2012, we reached a milestone when we took delivery of our 100th Boeing Next-Generation
737 aircraft. We flew more than 17.4 million guests in 2012, an 8.6 per cent increase over 2011,
and achieved a record load factor of 82.8 per cent for the year as we increased our capacity
by 4.1 per cent. We were also pleased to report an earnings before tax margin of 9.9 per cent
in 2012, an increase of 3.1 percentage points over 2011, ranking us among the top airlines in
North America.
We continued our network expansion, and now serve 85 destinations in 18 countries in
North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Our growth in airline partnerships is
helping us build a virtual global network. During 2012, we increased the total number of
partnerships to 30, including eight code-share agreements, as Delta Air Lines, Korean Air,
Gregg Saretsky
became WestJet’s
President and CEO
in April 2010
and has spent more
than 27 years in the
airline industry.