The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that WestJet Airlines is hoping that its strong second-quarter financials Tuesday will result in a sustained period of growth. The Globe's Mark Rendell quotes chief financial officer Harry Taylor as saying on a conference call: "There was a billion dollars in travel revenue that evaporated in the recession. Now that's not all going to come back and we're not expecting it to come back in a hurry, the way some previous recoveries in Alberta have. But having hit the bottom [we're] starting to see some recovery." Mr. Taylor said that Alberta passenger revenue increased 10 per cent from a year earlier. Despite strong earnings, WestJet's return on invested capital declined year over year to 9.8 per cent, considerably short of its 13-per-cent to 16-per-cent target. "We believe we're in a trough now," said chief executive officer Gregg Saretsky, pointing to the upfront costs of acquiring its new fleet of Boeing 787 and Boeing 737 Max aircraft. He said he expects return on invested capital to begin improving next quarter and throughout 2018. The company also announced that it was pushing back the launch of its new ultralow-cost carrier to next summer.