On May 22, the Chamber hosted WestJet Group CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech for his annual address to the Calgary business community, presented by the Calgary Airport Authority, with a progress report on how the company has evolved over the last two years, and shared his ambitions to make Calgary a world-class global hub for travel.
Alexis began his remarks by celebrating that the organization’s success—since its inception and under the recent growth and restructuring strategy. With the exception of the pandemic, WestJet has grown at a steady pace of 10% each year since its inception in 1996. With a concerted focus on serving Western Canada, WestJet has increased its capacity by 25% compared to pre-pandemic levels and has added 5,400 employees over the last two years.
He shared key insights that helped us put the challenges of WestJet and the airline industry in Canada into perspective:
- Geographical hurdles: Canada’s unique mixture of vast distances with a dispersed population creates unique challenges. Canada’s average flight duration is 2.5 hours with a relatively small population, leading to more expensive air travel than other global regions such as Europe.
- Government Fees: Airports must pay a 12% annual fee to the Canadian government. Consequently, customer prices rise as the industry struggles to absorb these fees.
- Disparity in subsidies: Air travel is an essential form of transportation in Canada. Airlines, like WestJet, don’t receive one dollar of government subsidies, which is unbalanced considering the rail industry benefits from substantial government support.
Despite all these challenges, WestJet has emerged as the airline of choice for two out of every three passengers departing from Calgary. Its strategic acquisition of Sunwing and Sunwing Vacations has helped them capture 50% of the vacation market share, with 26 flights to Cancun on peak days in the winter season. Westjet provides 36 unique city pairings between Eastern and Western Canada, and 88 non-stop destinations out of Calgary.
Looking to the future, Alexis aims to add 80 aircrafts to WestJet’s fleet over the next four years, while expanding attention on guest experience, job creation, and their ongoing growth strategy.
His recommendations to improve the state of the aviation industry in Canada:
- Prevent worsening affordability: Immediately freeze mandatory government fees, changes and policies, as well as the end of charging airports rent to the federal government
- Develop new approach: Perform a comprehensive review of a user pay model in Canada, as many other regions use, to attempt to address cost and affordability issues.
During his talk, Alexis said “a rising tide lifts all boats.” He explained that by addressing the barriers faced by WestJet, we could increase job creation, grow the local economy and develop Calgary as not only a world-class global hub for travel, but also a global hub for aviation.
Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, The Calgary Airport Authority, as well as our thanking sponsor De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. and our supporting sponsor Edelman.
To learn more about WestJet’s ideas for the future, visit their Strategy page on their official website.
Interested in hosting your own keynote address to the Calgary business community? Get in touch: sponsorships@calgarychamber.com.
