In 2016, WestJet plans on introducing new planes with either slimmer seats or an extra row. The purpose of this is to cut down costs and increase its revenues. The initial plan, adding lighter seats, will help cut fuel consumption, but will be removed if the company decides to make an additional row. Greg Saretsky, Westjet CEO, has stressed that “keeping fares down is a key focus for Westjet.” Therefore, by densifying its planes, it gives Westjet a chance to lower its fares.

Operations management plays a big role in the company’s plan. Operations is concerned with using the given resources to produce the highest quality of products and services to maximize profits, and that is exactly what Westjet is doing. By slimming down seats or adding an extra row, Westjet still faces the same costs, if not lower, in terms of labour and materials. As a result of maintaining the same labour costs per plane and using less materials because of the downsize in seats, the fuel consumption is reduced, enabling the possibility of lowering fares. This all leads to increase in revenues and profit maximization. This plan, which requires a strong operations team to manage, should be efficient and beneficial to Westjet.

In the third-quarter financial results, the company’s net profit surged 31%, from $65.1 million last year to $85.4 million. The third-quarter results were strong given the benefits of demand offsetting higher costs and capacity. In addition, it is anticipated that Westjet will continue to experience growth in earnings due to the fact that the falling fuel prices will help offset the impact of the drop in value of the Canadian dollar.