Westjet to be North America`s most profitable airline in `09

[GarthChapman]

And look at the size of those profit sharing bonuses!

"Profit sharing twice a year up to 20% of pilot`s salary"

Interesting how excellent leadership and great employee morale can translate into the ability to pay so much more and be so much more profitable - simultaneously.

 

[ZanderRobertson]

!

 

[ZanderRobertson]

I`m happy to see this topic is still going on. I just got back to (insanely cold) edmonton after 2 weeks in Jamaica. You guessed it, I flew Westjet. I must say, they didn`t fail to impress. We flew as a group of 9 with 3 children, and the Westjetters were fantastic from gate to gate. They even kept us realistically informed of delays, including information about what causes them (we flew through Toronto during that huge blizzard).

Go Westjet! They keep proving that success is more about how business is run than what the market is doing.

 

[MarkHealy]

Here`s a thought, what if REIN was a union. Think how that would affect your business

"Sorry Owen you`ve bought too many house ths year and the rest of us don`t like it
Your industrious attitude and hard work is making the rest of look bad
Union rules you must now take a break
We know the boss can`t fire you but we can push you out of the union"

Then we could put pressure on Don and Russel

"You guys make too much money, now we want you to looked after us
It doesn`t matter if I`m late for appointments, don`t look for JV`s (you should provide me with JV`s anyway) and so what if I don`t make any offers and don`t due any due diligence. you should find me tenants as well and I think you should guarantee that I make 45% return. If I don`t, take the money away from those who do or maybe get the Governement (my neighbours) to put up the money so I don`t have to suffer the consequences of my own actions and choices"

What happens to top producers in such an enviornment?
The good ones leave and lousy ones stay (except for the dedicated ones, who wage an up hill battle against the system)

 

[Sherilynn]

Just thought I would pass along some info on WJ wages from a friend who flies for them...(the information he refers to is from the website I provided the other day)

"The information shows just the hourly rate that we are guaranteed to receive up to 80 hours. We can easily pick up more flying and get paid at time and half when flying more than 85 hours or anytime we are called for a flight that starts within 48 hours of the call. There is also the employee stock purchase plan. Westjet matches dollar for dollar up to a maximum of 20% of your pay check when you take part in the plan. It`s like giving yourself a 20% raise if you do the full 20% amount. At the end of the year you have saved 40% of you pay check in WJ stock. You have access to the stock 1 year after purchasing and can sell 4 times per year. You`ll note in the scale on that website I attached in year 3 you can choose to get paid in a percentage of cash and stock options. Most people do the minimum stock option plan which is 25% stock and 75% cash. So to tell you exactly if AC pilots make more than WJ pilots is difficult. For a Wj pilot the pay depends on stock price, how much they contribute in the employee stock plan, how much they choose to get paid in stock option, and how much overtime they work. I know of Captains here who have T4`s over $300,000. They worked al lot of overtime to get that though. I`ve flown with a captain that wanted to buy a harley. He worked hard for three months earning an extra $10,000 a month in overtime. Senior AC Captains don`t make as much but they also didn`t have to fly 100 hours month to make over $200,000. I hope that helps."

Regards,
Sherilynn

 

[Clint775]

Great thread folks. I`m really enjoying the differnt points of views...

As a business-for-self contractor for the past 15 years, and government employee (IE. unionionized employee) previous to that, I have the benefit of understanding both perspectives well. I currently work in a very specialized position in the IT industry. It always interests me to hear the union debate. I think there are some people who can`t fend for themselves or don`t want to and perhaps for them a union is useful / necessary. For the rest of us, I think once you experience the freedom, power and pride of being in control of your own destiny, you won`t ever go back. At least that was my personal experience. No one is interested in my personal well being more than I am - regardless of what is on the union posters...

As to the discussion at hand, an amazing book I read 20 years ago called "In Search of Excellence" summed it up well: empower people, provide them with reasons to be proud of their jobs, give them some control of their destiny and stand back and watch them go... If I`m not mistaken, that`s somewhat the Westjet approach. Their silly commercials about being "Westjet owners" speak more to the fact that their employees have some control of how they execute their jobs than it does their actual financial ownership. (There are some excellent books on business process reengineering which elaborate on this point as well.) One of the great results is that Westjet just has that personal, "real" touch. It`s almost like their staff enjoy their jobs.

On the other hand, the Air Canada union, and I`m afraid a lot of unions in general, encourage mediocrity, compliance, and reliance on others. Lowest common denominator syndrome is what unions espouse. What`s the incentive for me to excel? To be creative? To be different? To adjust to environmental changes, threats, challenges? The union will ensure that I get paid the same as the next person - succeed or fail. Have you ever noticed that exceptional teachers get paid the same as horrible ones? Wonder why that is?? Oh, wait.. unions... sigh...

(let`s leave that one for another day.. lol)

By no means can you paint everyone with the same brush, I`m just saying that each approach "encourages" certain behaviors. If I were a betting man, I`d be putting my money behind Westjet.

Clint

 

[jhemlow]

A little bit of apples and oranges going on here.

WJ is a domestic carrier operating only one type of aircraft.

Air Canada is an international multi fleet airline with massive `legacy costs`. The low cost model has not traditionally transferred well to the international model, and you cannot operate 737`s overseas with a profit.

WJ has become a great Canadian business success story but the Canadian media loves to relate it to AirCanada when it`s not warranted. (You don`t see U.S carriers compared with their domestic counterparts.

Cheers,

P.s I`m a pilot for a tier III operator for AirCanada.

 

[GarthChapman]

QUOTE (jhemlow @ Jan 5 2009, 08:12 AM) A little bit of apples and oranges going on here.

WJ is a domestic carrier operating only one type of aircraft.

Air Canada is an international multi fleet airline with massive `legacy costs`. The low cost model has not traditionally transferred well to the international model, and you cannot operate 737`s overseas with a profit.

WJ has become a great Canadian business success story but the Canadian media loves to relate it to AirCanada when it`s not warranted. (You don`t see U.S carriers compared with their domestic counterparts.

Cheers,

P.s I`m a pilot for a tier III operator for AirCanada.

We compare them because as consumers they are our two provider choices. And AC is universally found wanting. That surely contributes to WestJet`s success. If AC wanted to compete more effectively in the domestic market it could, but that would require a dramitic change of culture.

You appear to be suggesting the comparison is an unfair one. In some areas that may be true, but we don`t really care. We expect to be treated with respect and a smile. AC cannot seem to manage that. Yet other countries` legacy carriers can and do. So even when we shift our comparison to the international market AC is still found wanting.

 

[jhemlow]

QUOTE (GarthChapman @ Jan 5 2009, 12:23 PM) We compare them because as consumers they are our two provider choices. And AC is universally found wanting. That surely contributes to WestJet`s success. If AC wanted to compete more effectively in the domestic market it could, but that would require a dramitic change of culture.

You appear to be suggesting the comparison is an unfair one. In some areas that may be true, but we don`t really care. We expect to be treated with respect and a smile. AC cannot seem to manage that. Yet other countries` legacy carriers can and do. So even when we shift our comparison to the international market AC is still found wanting.

Sadly I believe your distaste for AirCanada is shared amongst the vast majority of Canadians,

I have flown on WestJet many times and operate aircraft under the AirCanada banner on a daily basis, I simply don`t see a stark contrast in the level or service provided to the customer.

I wish I had the article but there was a piece in a Canadian newspaper saying how angry people were at all the flights on the east coast cancelled by AirCanada. Almost all the evidence was anicdotal with comments from passengers like "I see other airplanes like WestJet taking off, why can`t AirCanada?". I am currently based in Halifax and was at work during that day and I can tell you first hand that nearly ALL flights in and out of Halifax were delayed and eventually cancelled. All the airlines were in a huge mess that day and my fellow employees and lots of the great folks at Westjet were all trying to get the job done. You can understand my frustration when dealing with a situation like we dealt with over the holiday season only to read articles like this.

I hope 2009 brings some positive changes for Canada`s only overseas carrier, obviously the most positive changes would come in the form of public perception. Airlines have been hit hard over the last few decades. With new financing from three new sources GE, CIBC and Aeroplan, one of the most modern fleets for an airline of its size, cheaper oil and proper capacity control, AirCanada can hopefully emerge profitable through these hard economic times.

I`d rather not get into a further back and forth about who`s better or who smiles more, just thought the forum could benefit from my insight being in the business.

Cheers,

Jason

 

[ZanderRobertson]

Indeed, and I must say, whenever I`ve flown AC, I`ve been 100% satisfied with the thing that matters most, arriving at my destination safely. So, a big thanks to AC pilots (and mechanics) such as yourself for many safe landings.

On the customer service side of things, what is there to customer satisfaction but thousands and thousands of annectodes? If most everyone agrees that Westjet offers better service, then they probably do. There`s no doubt that public sentiment has turned against AC in a bad way. From my numerous annectodes, it`s a well deserved reputation.

Also, it`s hard to find a deep well of respect for corporate welfare bums. To say that it`s a tough industry hardly frees them from criticism. Can`t AC build enough efficiency into the business to make a go of it?

I would like to see either 1) Air Canada become a world class airline (with a profit!!), or 2) their dissolution and let the market decide.

QUOTE (jhemlow @ Jan 5 2009, 12:07 PM) Sadly I believe your distaste for AirCanada is shared amongst the vast majority of Canadians,

I have flown on WestJet many times and operate aircraft under the AirCanada banner on a daily basis, I simply don`t see a stark contrast in the level or service provided to the customer.

I wish I had the article but there was a piece in a Canadian newspaper saying how angry people were at all the flights on the east coast cancelled by AirCanada. Almost all the evidence was anicdotal with comments from passengers like "I see other airplanes like WestJet taking off, why can`t AirCanada?". I am currently based in Halifax and was at work during that day and I can tell you first hand that nearly ALL flights in and out of Halifax were delayed and eventually cancelled. All the airlines were in a huge mess that day and my fellow employees and lots of the great folks at Westjet were all trying to get the job done. You can understand my frustration when dealing with a situation like we dealt with over the holiday season only to read articles like this.

I hope 2009 brings some positive changes for Canada`s only overseas carrier, obviously the most positive changes would come in the form of public perception. Airlines have been hit hard over the last few decades. With new financing from three new sources GE, CIBC and Aeroplan, one of the most modern fleets for an airline of its size, cheaper oil and proper capacity control, AirCanada can hopefully emerge profitable through these hard economic times.

I`d rather not get into a further back and forth about who`s better or who smiles more, just thought the forum could benefit from my insight being in the business.

Cheers,

Jason

 

[Clint775]

Garth and Zander,

BRAVO! For summing up a long thread so eloquently. At the end of the day in a client service industry, it`s largely perception that matters. With all do respect to the hardworking Air Canada employees and contractors out there, if you want my hard earned buck, yah gotta make me smile... See... like this -->

Have your bosses at Air Canada call me, we`ll work on reengineering the business towards a client centric model and we`ll get yah back on track. he he

Clint

 

[dcres]

After watching the news every night during the holidays, I see the total mess
that Air Canada created for their customers. There is still hundreds of pieces of
luggage at the Vancouver airport unclaimed. Their attitude is simply, if you don`t
like the service go somewhere else.

WestJet looked after all their stranded customers over the Christmas season.
Spending millions of dollars on food & lodging.
I won`t be surprised if Air Canada doesn`t lose a good market share of their business this year.
Who would want to fly with them, unless you have no choice.

Your dealing with a brainless government bureaucracy.

 

[cldemott]

My dream was to work at WJ once the kids were up and out, and so I am living my dream now. Try it and you`ll see why WJ is so successful. Environment is everything! Surrounded by only positive upbeat teams (includes management and exec`s) makes the "JOB" feel like a fun place to go to contribute!

Linda