WestJet Airlines Ltd. saw its third-quarter profit grow by about 20 per cent compared with a year ago as it increased capacity and traffic.
The airline says it earned $138.4 million or $1.18 per diluted share for the quarter that ended Sept. 30.
That compared with a profit of $116.0 million or 97 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue totalled $1.22 billion, up from $1.12 billion.
Capacity in the quarter measured by available seat miles increased 5.8 per cent, while traffic measured by revenue passenger miles increased 7.9 per cent compared with a year ago.
WestJet’s load factor for the quarter amounted to 85.7 per cent, up from 84.0 per cent.
Shares of the Calgary-based airline were trading down slightly in the wake of the earnings report, lower by 21 cents at $26.89 in afternoon trading on the TSX.
In a research note, Canaccord Genuity analyst Doug Taylor said WestJet’s results were “overall largely in line with consensus” with improved cost per available seat mile offsetting revenue per available seat mile that was slight below the market’s expectations.
TD Securities analyst Tim James said in a research note that WestJet management is “seeing a very strong demand environment and is confident in being able to drive yield improvement in the future.”
James added that Swoop, WestJet’s ultra-low cost carrier, is on track to begin operations in June 2018 with two 737s, increasing to 10 aircraft within a year. He said Swoop will operate primarily in different markets than WestJet, “although there may be end up being some route overlap where market conditions warrant.”