Canadian LCC Already Has Equipment In Place

ARINC Inc. announced a comprehensive 2-year radio service contract Tuesday with Calgary-based LCC WestJet. Under terms of the deal, ARINC’s Canada Division will provide mission-critical radio support for VHF, UHF, and networked digital voice systems at 23 WestJet airport locations across Canada.

ARINC started site survey work in September under the contract’s first phase, and by mid-2006 will take over full maintenance responsibilities on the program. It will also perform ongoing inventory and frequency management services for WestJet.

“We were impressed with ARINC’s service and outsource capability when they set up our nationwide digital voice network,” stated Steve Stretch, Director IT Operations. “This new radio maintenance agreement is equally attractive, and we look forward to realizing overhead cost savings as well as more efficient overall system management.”

According to a company release, a large portion of the existing WestJet communications infrastructure is part of a relatively new digital network installed by ARINC in 2003 under a separate agreement.

“We put a great value on this new contract with a very good customer,” stated Karla Cadden, ARINC Marketing Director, Airline Systems. “WestJet is Canada’s fastest-growing airline for good reasons, including their flexible management approach. We look forward to making this maintenance program a showpiece for the industry.”

ARINC Canada will also manage WestJet’s frequency program and government compliance, perform equipment surveys, and maintain a continuous, uniform inventory system with computerized bar coding of all assets and spares.

A Program Manager from ARINC Canada will act as the primary contact for WestJet and manage both day-to-day operations and system planning. The Program Manager will also monitor service levels, supervise project implementation, and perform resource planning.

FMI: www.arinc.com, www.westjet.com