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WestJet Announces Suspension of aiRES Implementation

WestJet today announced an agreement with Travelport to suspend the current aiRES contract in order to negotiate an amendment to this contract for the successful delivery of their aiRES reservation system.

Sean Durfy, President of WestJet commented, "We have made the difficult decision to suspend this implementation while we renegotiate the terms under which we will deploy a future release of aiRES. Our guest experience is one of the most important components of our business and we want to ensure we do not compromise this vital element as we upgrade our current reservation system.

WestJet announced a support agreement with Navitaire on December 22, 2006. This support agreement, effective through December, 2008, will provide WestJet with a supported and upgraded version of its current Open Skies reservation and distribution system.

WestJet has invested approximately $38 million in the development of aiRES. WestJet and Travelport have agreed to enter into discussions to explore an amendment to the existing agreement that would specify the terms under which a future version of aiRES would be implemented. If WestJet and Travelport can not come to an agreement by May 31, 2007, the parties will enter into a dispute resolution process and there is the potential of a one time write-off of $30 million.