Mike Malik, Chief Marketing Officer, Cirium
Here’s what makes that achievement so impressive: just over a year ago, WestJet was posting around 71% on-time arrivals across nearly 192,000 flights. That put them near the bottom of major North American carriers—a tough place to be when your customers, your employees, and your investors are all watching the same scorecards.
Every month, I review on-time performance results with our committee and board. We see incremental improvements, seasonal dips, weather recoveries—the usual rhythm of airline operations. But October 2025 wasn’t usual. This was different. We all felt it was a big deal, and I don’t think most people truly understand what it takes to post these kinds of numbers.
What Most People Don’t See
When passengers see an 84% on-time rate, they might think: “Pretty good odds I won’t be delayed.” And they’re right—but they’re missing the real story.
What that number actually represents is thousands of people doing hundreds of things right, repeatedly, under pressure. It’s gate agents, dispatchers, maintenance crews, pilots, and operations centers all executing with precision. It’s schedules built with discipline. It’s recovery plans that actually work when things go sideways.
You don’t get to 84.66% OTP by hoping for good weather. You get there through relentless operational focus and a culture that treats reliability as non-negotiable.
Leadership That Gives Credit Where It’s Due
I’ve met a lot of airline CEOs over the years. Some are brilliant strategists. Others are financial experts. A few are operations specialists.
Alexis von Hoensbroech, CEO, WestJet
Alexis von Hoensbroech, who became WestJet’s CEO in February 2022, is something different—and refreshingly so. When I met him at a conference, what struck me wasn’t just his impressive background (a physics PhD from the Max Planck Institute, years at Boston Consulting Group, sixteen-plus years in senior roles at Lufthansa Group including CEO and CFO of Austrian Airlines). It was how genuinely warm and personable he was—surprisingly so for a CEO with those credentials.
More importantly, when he talks about WestJet’s operational progress, he consistently gives credit to the teams doing the work. That kind of humility from a leader with his accomplishments says a lot about how he’s building the airline’s culture.
His approach appears to focus on two principles: shared accountability across the operation, and schedule discipline as the foundation of everything else. Those aren’t just words at WestJet—they’re visible in the month-over-month data.
Building the Foundation
WestJet’s network today spans major hubs in Calgary, Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver, with extensive transborder and leisure flying. That’s a complex operation—the kind that exposes any weakness in your processes.
The airline is also midway through significant fleet modernization. In 2025, WestJet announced an order for 67 Boeing aircraft—60 737-10 MAX jets and 7 787-9 Dreamliners, with deliveries through 2034. Modern fleets don’t guarantee operational excellence, but they certainly help create the conditions for it.
September’s numbers already showed momentum—roughly 84.5% OTP, putting WestJet among the month’s top performers. October confirmed it wasn’t a fluke.
Why This Matters
Airlines around the world take on-time performance seriously, and they should. It affects brand reputation, investor confidence, and employee morale. When I see results like WestJet’s, it makes me proud that Cirium’s data plays a role in helping airlines benchmark and improve.
But more than that, I genuinely want to see the industry succeed. Every carrier doing well lifts the entire sector. And when an airline posts numbers like this—especially after climbing from a challenging baseline—it proves something important:
You can fix an airline. It takes clear leadership, operational discipline, fleet investment, and teams committed to execution. It doesn’t happen quickly, and it doesn’t happen by chance. But it can be done.
What Comes Next
The coming months will tell us whether October represents WestJet’s new normal or an early chapter in a longer story. Either way, this moment matters.
It’s proof that when airlines focus on the fundamentals—schedule integrity, operational coordination, and accountability at every level—the results show up in the data. And when those results are sustained, everything changes: customer trust rebuilds, brand strength returns, and business resilience grows.
Congratulations to Alexis and the entire WestJet team. October 2025 will be remembered as the month you reached the top of North American on-time performance.
And from where I sit, that’s fantastic news for everyone.
