(Adds details)
May 3 (Reuters) - Canada's WestJet Airlines Ltd WJA.TO
reported a nearly 38 percent fall in quarterly profit at a time
of economic weakness in oil-producing Alberta, where the airline
mostly operates.
Airlines in western Canada that were once blooming in the
oil-rich region have been recording a significant decline in
passenger traffic to and from and within Alberta.
WestJet shifted its focus to eastern Canada and suspended
nearly a dozen daily flights in January from Alberta's largest
airports, Calgary and Edmonton.
The company's cost per available seat mile, a measure of how
much an airline spends to fly a passenger, fell 4.2 percent to
12.45 Canadian cents in the first quarter, from a year earlier.
However, the company's operating expenses rose nearly 2.5
percent to C$908.2 million.
WestJet's revenue per available seat mile (RASM), an
indicator of an airline's efficiency calculated by dividing
operating income by available seat miles, fell 11 percent to
14.14 Canadian cents.
The company's net earnings fell to C$87.6 million ($69.9
million), or 71 Canadian cents per share, in the first quarter
ended March 31, from C$140.7 million, or C$1.09 per share, a
year earlier.
Revenue fell 4.8 percent to C$1.03 billion.
Up to Monday's close, WestJet's stock had fallen 22 percent
in the past 12 months.
($1 = 1.2537 Canadian dollars)