Sales for low-cost air carrier WestJet have been "below expectation" since its introduction, but there is no current plan to end the route, a company spokesman said last night.

According to Robert Palmer, the company has not reached the point of stopping its service to the Island. "But we do need to see significant improvement in both directions," he said.

Last night media reports claimed the low-cost airline service could come to an end if significant improvement in sales were not made.

Westjet was introduced to the Island in May after Premier Ewart Brown spent years searching for a low cost airline to compete with Air Canada.

Last month the airline was forced to reduce the number of winter flights — from daily to four times a week — due to poor demand.

But yesterday Mr. Palmer denied the carrier was closing and said they would continue to work to see the route succeed. "Sales have been below expectations since last January when seats were first loaded for sale. Like our partners in Bermuda, we very much want this service to be successful.

"To achieve that success, we need to see an improvement in both northbound and southbound performance. Air service is no different than any other good or service in the economy — supply and demand must be in sync.

"In the last six months, Westjet has spent significant marketing resources to raise awareness and instituted some extraordinary fares, including a northbound fare of $99 one way to any destination in Westjet's 31-city Canadian network.

"Along with our partners in the Bermuda tourist industry, we have worked to increase the number of guests travelling in both directions. These efforts will continue, as we all want to see this route succeed."

According to Carl Paiva, CEO of C Travel, Westjet may have run into difficulties when they "didn't take into consideration the business that could be outbound from Bermuda to Canada. They didn't concentrate on that."

Mr. Paiva said the airline was also not a part of the 'Bank Settlement Plan' (BSP) which acted as the middleman between travel agents and airlines. As a result travel agents had to go through the "cumbersome" process of going to the Westjet site to make bookings.

In addition Westjet does not offer local travel agents a commission while Air Canada does, said Mr. Paiva. He added that his agency would better support the airline if such conditions were in place.