WestJet Airlines weighed down by Alberta job losses as profit plunges
Alberta’s flood of job losses hit WestJet Airlines, as the airline reported sharply lower profit amid growing concerns about industry overcapacity. The airline saw a steep drop in ticket sales in Q4 of 2015, a plunge it attributed to dwindling oil-patch employee severance packages and bonuses. Alberta shed about 51,000 full-time jobs last year as oil prices collapsed to about US$ a barrel from more than $100 in 2014. WestJet’s profit fell by 27% in the final 3 months of 2015 to C$63.4m, or 51 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting per-share profit of 63 cents. Revenue per available seat mile fell by almost 6%. WestJet shares have lost about a third of their value since early October. WestJet appeared to have been caught off-guard by the drop in ticket sales, which has been steeper than in the slump of 2008-09. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2016-02-03/unaligned/westjet-airlines-weighed-down-by-alberta-job-losses-as-profit-plunges
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WestJet Airlines weighed down by Alberta job losses as profit plunges
Alberta’s flood of job losses hit WestJet Airlines, as the airline reported sharply lower profit amid growing concerns about industry overcapacity. The airline saw a steep drop in ticket sales in Q4 of 2015, a plunge it attributed to dwindling oil-patch employee severance packages and bonuses. Alberta shed about 51,000 full-time jobs last year as oil prices collapsed to about US$ a barrel from more than $100 in 2014. WestJet’s profit fell by 27% in the final 3 months of 2015 to C$63.4m, or 51 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting per-share profit of 63 cents. Revenue per available seat mile fell by almost 6%. WestJet shares have lost about a third of their value since early October. WestJet appeared to have been caught off-guard by the drop in ticket sales, which has been steeper than in the slump of 2008-09. <br/>
