WestJet CEO aims for 50% market share

Calgary-based WestJet's incoming CEO said Wednesday he wants to increase the airline's domestic market share to about 50 per cent in the coming years.

Gregg Saretsky said the discount airline now has about 38 per cent of the Canadian market.

Saretsky told a conference of financial analysts in Toronto that he's aiming to have WestJet increase its market share to 45 per cent in the next three or four years.

Getting to 50 per cent will be more difficult, he said, because many Canadian markets are too small to support WestJet's 119-seat planes and no decision has been made to acquire smaller aircraft.

Saretsky also said that as the economy improves, the airline will be able to increase the use of its planes and add red-eye flights.