Air Canada Reports Second Quarter Results

DALLAS - Air Canada (AC) today reported its second quarter 2022 financial results. Highlights include operating revenue of CA$3.981bn, an operating loss of CA$253m, free cash flow of CA$441m, and unrestricted liquidity of over CA$10.5bn. The operating loss is the narrowest quarterly loss since the beginning of the pandemic.

“The past three months have been very challenging for our company, our employees, and customers from an operational perspective,” said Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada.

“The path to recovery from any serious event is rarely straight and easy. I thank our employees for their incredibly hard work, demonstrated professionalism and commitment as we safely transported over 9.1 million customers in the quarter, nearly 8 million more than the second quarter of 2021 or about 70% of total customers carried in the full year 2021."

The CEO added that the industry worldwide was facing unprecedented conditions as it emerges from pandemic-related restrictions.

"The situation is particularly challenging in Canada where we have gone from a near two-year shutdown of air travel to rebuilding our capacity back to close to 80 per cent of 2019 levels in just a few months. Despite meticulous planning and projecting, participants involved in the air transport system are facing significant pressure in restarting. We continue to work together to restore the travel experience to expectations and are encouraged by recent improvements.”

The airline said that it is pleased with its results.

Summer 2022 Recovery

Second quarter 2022 advance ticket sales reached 94% versus the same quarter of 2019. Q2 operating capacity in seat miles was 73% compared to the same quarter of 2019. Despite this lower capacity, passenger revenues were 80 per cent of those generated in the second quarter of 2019, the reason being higher yields.

"We expected travel would rebound significantly once restrictions were lifted and prepared accordingly,” said Mr. Rousseau. “We entered the peak summer travel period at close to 90 per cent of our pre-pandemic staffing levels, while prudently planning to operate approximately 80 per cent of our pre-pandemic schedule over that period.”

To further support the industry's recovery efforts and mitigate the short-term impact on customers and employees, the airline recently took additional steps to flatten peaks and smooth the flow of traffic by proactively reducing its schedule over July and August.

Regarding Flight Disruptions

The airline also stated that it was working closely with our service providers and governments to keep addressing the issues aviation is facing in Canada and globally.

"We acknowledge the inconveniences and disruptions some of our customers have faced, and we deeply regret this. This is not business as usual for us. We thank our customers for their understanding and the loyalty they are showing to Air Canada in these unprecedented times," concluded Mr. Rousseau.

A complete review of the results is available at this website.

Featured image: Air Canada C-FVND Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Photo: Daniel Gorun/Airways