Open Jaw :: On The Town ::

Duncan Bureau successfully lands his CITC presentation in Calgary

Bureau displays a Profit magazine article entitled "10 Secrets of WestJet's Success"

with Theresa Storm
21APR09

WestJet’s Duncan Bureau on The State Of The Airline Industry

“Before we get started, there are two emergency exits at the back and two at the front,” quipped WestJet’s Duncan Bureau, displaying the airline’s trademark humour even while taxiing into a talk on an ominous topic of late - The State of the Airline Industry.

Garnering chuckles as he projected a legal disclosure, the V.P. of sales and airline partnerships, who travels worldwide speaking about his wildly successful airline, instantly engaged the crowd assembled in Calgary for the Canadian Institute of Travel Counsellors (CITC) 41st AGM, themed "re-igniting the industry".

Drawing 60 CTCs, CTMs, ACTA travel agency owners/managers, and other interested industry folks, CITC’s President Steve Gillick was impressed with the turnout.

They were there, in part, to hear Bureau’s 45 minute fun and optimistic, yet at times sobering, take on the hard-hit industry. Although it was punctuated with anecdotes and teeny-weeny competitor jabs, it was chock full of fact-filled countable beans (stats).

For example, to hedge or not to hedge – that was the question when oil prices in Q3 ‘08 rocketed to $130/barrel. Fortunately, WS did not, a costly misjudgment for airlines that did.

With a 90-95% airline failure rate, oil, labour, and distribution costs are key drivers, Bureau said, and constitute one of WestJet’s four strategic pillars.

Their focus on costs, and on employee/owners, are two reasons why WestJet was the most profitable airline in North America, and third worldwide, last year.

Way to go WS!

P.S. Nobody bolted for Bureau’s “in the event of a humdrum speech” emergency exits.