WestJet filled 83.6% of its seat in the full year 2017, up 1.8 points from 81.8% in 2016. Capacity for the full year rose by 5.8% while traffic grew by 8.1%.

The trend continued in December, which saw a load factor of 83.6%, up 2.8 points from 80.8% in December, 2016.

Traffic was up 9.8% in December, and WS flew a record 2.1 million pax during the month, a year-over-year increase of 10.0% or approximately 190,000 more than the year before.

"We are very pleased with our significant growth in traffic, as we reported a record December load factor and flew a record number of guests in December," said WestJet President and CEO Gregg Saretsky. 

Bruce Parkinson Editor-in-Chief

An observer and analyst of the Canadian and international travel industries for over 25 years, Bruce uses the pre-dawn hours to prepare a daily news and information package to keep industry members up to date.