Airlines' fortunes looking up in new year

The return of business travellers, fuller planes and rising ticket prices meant a better year for the country's airlines, but industry watchers say emerging from the recession's lows was still a slow climb in 2010.

Karl Moore, a professor at McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management, said with Air Canada posting better financial results and WestJet resolving troubles with its reservation system, the industry's future looks good.

"Despite the considerable increase in capacity, particularly WestJet, the load factors, the number of passengers on the planes, has gone up fairly well," he said.

"With an improving world economy, I think it should be a very strong, solid year for the industry in Canada."

He added that Saretsky seems to be a "good match with what they need these days," while Air Canada's CEO Calin Rovinescu is making positive moves to try to change the culture at the country's largest airline.

Read full article: Montreal Gazette, December 28, 2010