Canadian airline WestJet announced December 2016 traffic results with a load factor of 80.8%, an increase of 1.6 points year over year. Revenue passenger miles (RPMs), or traffic, increased 9.1% YoY, and capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASMs), grew 7.1% over the same period.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, the airline flew a record 5.4 million guests, a year-over-year increase of 11.0% or approximately 531,000 additional guests. For the full-year of 2016, the airline flew a record 22 million passengers, an increase of 8.2% YoY or approximately 1.7 million additional passengers.

WestJet President and CEO Gregg Saretsky stated: "We are very pleased with the double-digit traffic growth in 2016 as we achieved our second highest full-year load factor of 81.8% and welcomed a record 22 million guests on board."

WestJet and its subsidiary WestJet Encore now fly to 100 destinations in 20 countries in North and Central America, the Caribbean and Europe, including 36 cities in Canada and 21 in the US. The company now operates a strong fleet of 119 Boeing aircraft.