Comparison of Ticket Prices Between Spirit and WestJet

[aerobod]

From the perspective of what people pay for a ticket (besides taxes that are not shown on the revenue side for airlines), the yield will give a direct comparison of how much an airline charges for their average stage length, i.e. what the consumer actually pays to the airline on average. It is interesting when doing a comparison between Spirit Airlines and WestJet that these values are quite similar.

Spirit Airlines is generally seen as the most cost and price concious ULCC in North America, For full year 2015 it had a yield of 11.9 US cents per mile on an average stage length of 987 miles(http://ir.spirit.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=953924. Average revenue per passenger US$117

WestJet had a yield of 14.1 US cents (18.72 Canadian) in 2015 on an average stage length of 910 miles https://www.westjet.com/assets/wj-web/d ... 2015AR.pdf. Average revenue per guest/passenger US$128

As Spirit uses a seat pitch of 28" on most of it's seats now, if WestJet increased the -800 seat count from 168 to 189 (Ryanair 30" config) and increased the average stage length to that similar to Spirit, it's yield would also be around 12 cents US with an average revenue per guest of US$114

[North Shore]

umm, forgive my lack of knowledge about this, but isn't a higher yield a better thing? And even if it's not, then reducing seat pitch might bring about more complaints and less ticket sales?

[aerobod]

umm, forgive my lack of knowledge about this, but isn't a higher yield a better thing? And even if it's not, then reducing seat pitch might bring about more complaints and less ticket sales?

That model works for Spirit and Ryanair,

[Braaaap]

What does yield show?

As far as I ever see. Westjet's prices are always = or a few bucks cheaper than Air Canada.

[aerobod]

What does yield show?

As far as I ever see. Westjet's prices are always = or a few bucks cheaper than Air Canada.

The revenue per revenue passenger mile, i.e. how much an airline made by flying one passenger one mile (on average). Due to ancilliary revenue being include in this, but not the taxes that are broken out in the price (airport improvement fees for example), it is typically the best way to understand how much an airline is actually charging passengers, as opposed to the price (or perceived price) of a ticket. The yield should be adjusted for stage length, as as range increases and equipment size increases yield will naturally decrease for the same profit margin, up to the point where it is inefficient to operate an aircraft due to needing crew changes or carrying extra fuel for an excessive fuel load.

When fares are de-bundled, yield ignores the method that is used to obtain revenue, hence equalizing a comparison of fare prices. When all airlines across North America are compared using a stage length adjusted yield, the amount charged passengers for a given journey in an economy seat of the same pitch (not including government taxes) doesn't vary very much, contrary to the perception of people buying tickets.