WestJet Airlines Ltd is a very profitable Canadian airline company that was has been amazing both investors and researches with the modern approach to doing business, as well as the passengers with the exceptional quality of service and constant price reduction policies for the existing customers. In the following essay I will attempt to present my research on WestJet Airlines Ltd and express my personal opinion and findings on this airline giant. WestJet was created by four Canadian entrepreneurs in 1996, who wanted to create an alternative to the existing airline companies to cover the airspace across western Canada. The entrepreneurs used the simple leadership strategy follow the leader and initially mimicked the successful companies of the North America like Morris Air, Delta, and Southwestern Airlines to apply their successful approaches to Western Canada air-travel market. In 1996 the team of four had been working extensively to create a suitable for Canadian conditions financial model and crafted the business plan of their new company to attract the needed capital for the company establishment. Their endeavors proved to be successful and after careful evaluation by the local business community that lasted only one month the 4 entrepreneurs received the funds they needed (Smith, 2001).
The company started with only three Boeing 737-200 airplanes, yet within a few months the company went public immediately attracting investors from both Canada and the USA and obtaining the capital that was sufficient for the full scale air-commerce operations in Canada. WestJet Airlines Ltd. started initially with the route to Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton employing less then two hundred people. The success was apparent and at the end of 1996, WestJet Airlines Ltd added three more Canadian cities to their flight map: Victoria, Regina and Saskatoon. By the end of 1998, WestJet Airlines Ltd. had covered almost all major cities of Canada due to its great marketing techniques and expansive policies. Second public offering that took place in July of 1999 offered additional 2.5 million common shares that were quickly sold out (Bergman, 2000).
The Essay on The Airline Industry Air Canada
The topic in which I chose to do a scrapbook on was "How the government affects the airline industry in Canada." Specifically I chose articles that related to the aftermaths of the September 11 th tragedy. This event affected airlines in an enormous manner. Many airlines were facing economical problems and in turned asked the government for assistance. As a result, Canada 3000, which was Canada's ...
This step made the WestJet Airlines Ltd. an actively traded public company and had furnished the necessary capital for the companys further expansion. The company started to aggressively purchase aircraft and build additional offices and Hangar facilities to meet the ever increasing companys workforce. The four entrepreneurs were lucky to see the unique opportunity in the Canadian Airline industry to serve at a very low cost additional routes across the country. Already in early 2000 WestJet Airlines Ltd. established its presence on the Canadian East Coast serving extensively the province of Quebec and establishing the airline hub in Hamilton.(Please refer to the appendix A for the modern day coverage map of WestJet Airlines Ltd.) For such outstanding work the WestJet Airlines Ltd. founding fathers were rewarded numerous rewards Entrepreneurs of the Year for bringing so much positive change in the lives of the Canadian fellow citizens.
After receiving the reward and public recognition the four entrepreneurs immediately bought four new Boeing 737 aircraft. The company has also opened new routes to the Canadian province of Ontario (London, Toronto) and took pride being Canadian admired and well loved airline company with low fairs and competitive pricing policy. The Year 2002 the company met with the public recognition and unstoppable profit growth since the company inception in 1996. Body: Reasons for Success (management style, employee commitment, market targets, and quality service).
Currently WestJet Airlines Ltd. has 23 airplanes in its fleet and has moved 10 million people since the company inception in 1996 (Verburg, 2000).
The Term Paper on Southwest Airlines Company Airline Aircraft
The Archetypical Low-Cost Air Carrier: Southwest Airlines Former Student ECON 211 Macroeconomics Embry-Riddle Aeronautical UniversityAbstractThe seventh largest major domestic airline in the United States (US), Southwest Airlines, is commonly known or referred to as a low-cost carrier. Southwest Airlines is the only major airline that provides short-haul, point-to-point service in the United ...
The company possesses the staff of 1700 people and covered 17 cities in Canada, namely Victoria, Prince George, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Grande Prairie, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Ottawa, and Thunder Bay. The company has been growing at an average rate of 55% annually since 1996 despite the common notion that with size companys growth is supposed to slow down. The company operates only one type of airplane, Boeing 737-200 due to friendly trade relations with the Boeing company. Being modeled after the Canadian Air Leader, SouthWestern Airlines, WestJet Airlines Ltd was second to it profitabilitywise with an operating margin of 20% pre-tax pre-profit sharing. The company success has been attributed to the fact that it is closely aligned the interests of its employees with the interests of company. This can be seen from the profit sharing strategy deployed at WestJet Airlines Ltd where all of its employees are profit-sharers and 85% of them buy the company stock on a monthly basis.
The company allows its workers to receive to 20% of their salary in WestJet Airlines Ltd stock through the share purchase program. The company has been paying particular attention to its workforce considering it the WestJet Airlines Ltd most important and valuable resource. As the companys HRM officer in the Ottawa office said We hire on average one person out of every 100 applicants and pay much attention to the attitude. The retention of the existing employees once they are in the WestJet Airlines Ltd team is not difficult at all ( Bergman, 2000).
The company stresses the material aspect of the current employee retention program allowing them an opportunity to participate in the creation of profit and wealth everyday. Speaking about its employees, the Mr.
Robertson said that being in the people business that airline industry represents requires employees to be very energetic, enthusiastic and always innovative, that upholds the innovative tradition of the WestJet Airlines Ltd. (Verburg, 2000)..
The Business plan on British Airways Valuation Company Airline Airlines
Global Economic There is increasing confidence that the world economy is enjoying a classic cyclical recovery. Global economy is on a recovery path aided largely by the quick end to the Iraqi war, which generated positive outlook among markets and built up business and consumer confidence. GDP growth rate was 0. 2% in the first quarter of 2003 in UK, growth rate for the second and third quarter ...
