News
WestJet and Travelport Discontinue Negotiations
WestJet announced that they have reached agreement with Travelport to discontinue negotiations.
September 20, 2007 By Carey Fredericks
CALGARY, ALBERTA – July 19, 2007 – WestJet today announced that they have reached agreement with Travelport to discontinue negotiations on the amendment of the aiRES contract. As a result, WestJet will incur a non-cash write-down of $31.9 million pre-tax ($22.2 million after tax) for the assets associated with WestJet's aiRES reservation system project. This write-down will be accounted for in the airline's quarterly results for the period ended June 30, 2007.
Sean Durfy, WestJet President commented, "As we stated in our January 10, 2007 news release where we first announced suspension of the aiRES implementation, we recognized the potential for this one-time write-down. Unfortunately, the possibility of implementing a future version of aiRES in the timeframe needed to meet WestJet's requirements is highly unlikely.
"Our current reservation system has been upgraded and is fully supported to meet our strategic plan for the remainder of 2007 and throughout 2008. All of the key functionalities we require to achieve our objectives are available to us. We will review our options for a new reservation system, from a variety of companies including Travelport, to meet our strategic plan beyond 2008."
WestJet will announce its second quarter results on August 1, 2007.
