The Canadian Press
WestJet Airlines is disputing allegations of corporate espionage by Air Canada, saying that nothing on the latter’s employee travel website it is accused of spying on suggested the information was confidential.
It’s the latest salvo fired in an escalating corporate espionage conflict between Canada’s two largest air carriers.
In its statement of defence filed in Ontario Superior Court, lawyers for WestJet dismissed Air Canada’s claims the Calgary-based carrier used the personal identification number of a former Canadian Airlines employee to access a private Air Canada website and sneak peeks at how full its flights were.
“At all material times, there was nothing on the website stating it was confidential,” WestJet said.
“Air Canada does not provide persons given access to the website any terms or conditions stating the information on the website is confidential or limiting the use of the information to a particular purpose.”
The website shows when space is available on planes and whether that space is likely to remain available. The site is used by current and former Air Canada employees to book personal travel.
Financial analyst Jeffrey Lafond, who is named in Air Canada’s lawsuit along with WestJet’s strategic planning vice-president Mark Hill, was allowed this privilege in October 2000 after leaving Canadian Airlines, which was acquired earlier by Montreal-based Air Canada.
Although WestJet did not deny it accessed the website, the airline said Hill checked the site for “the limited purpose of satisfying Hill’s interest and curiosity regarding the plaintiffs’ loads without the necessity of counting passengers or accessing the information from other sources.”
“The information on the website was never used by WestJet in any way related to any of its business decisions, and in particular was not used by WestJet in any way related to scheduling, planning or marketing.”
WestJet said the information was also available by other means. “Load information is available to anyone by counting passengers embarking and disembarking from aircraft. Counting passengers on competitors’ flights to determine competitors’ loads is common industry practice, employed by Air Canada, ZIP, WestJet and other airlines.”
WestJet said Air Canada has been losing market share and found itself in financial trouble due to its own incompetence.
“The plaintiff’s loss of revenue, profits and goodwill has been caused by mismanagement of their business, their decisions to persist in selling seats on flights for less than their cost to attempt to preserve market share and harm competitors, their high cost structure and the poor treatment of their customers,” WestJet asserted.
Air Canada has been operating under creditor protection since April last year.
WestJet also claimed Air Canada had private investigators disguised as municipal employees take confidential financial documents from an employee’s home that had been shredded and were destined to be recycled.
“Air Canada continues to unlawfully seize or otherwise misappropriate documents, information and other property from WestJet employees, full particulars of which are only known to Air Canada,” WestJet alleges.
Neither side’s allegations have been proven in court.
Air Canada’s suit seeks punitive damages of $5 million, but could involve millions of dollars more in revenues and profits that Air Canada says it lost because of the alleged snooping.
WestJet has said it intends to file a counter-suit over materials it says were lifted from Hill’s trash that Air Canada allegedly attempted to digitally reconstruct.
Discount carrier WestJet, which has been eating up domestic market share at Air Canada’s expense, stepped up the pressure in April when it shifted the hub of its operations in Ontario from Hamilton to Toronto.
