Access the financial statements of Air Canada and WestJet Airlines Ltd. for their years ended December 31, 2017, through SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or the companies' websites. Review the financial statements, including the notes, and then answer the following questions. 

Instructions 

a. Calculate the debt to equity ratio and the times interest earned ratio for these two companies based on numbers provided on their statements of financial position and their income statements. Comment on the comparative results of these two ratios for both companies. 

b. Refer to the companies' capital disclosure notes. Using the “adjusted debt” amounts reported in these notes, recalculate the debt to equity ratios. Comment on the results relative to those in part (a) above. Did both Air Canada and WestJet adjust their debt numbers in the same way? How did each company define and measure “equity” for determining its debt to equity ratio used internally? Comment briefly. 

c. How can Air Canada and WestJet adjust their capital structures to meet their capital management objectives?