After Air Canada’s corporate segment gained during the second quarter, momentum slowed during the third, EVP of revenue and network planning Mark Galardo said during a Friday earnings call.
Corporate demand “was improving,” Galardo said, without providing any data. “Unfortunately, we ran into a bit of a situation about some labor uncertainty that kind of slowed us down in the fall, but it’s definitely encouraging signals going forward. In particular, [there is] more strength on the U.S. network than on Canada.”
Galardo was referring to the negotiation period with the carrier’s pilots leading up to and into September. The carrier and the pilots union reached a last-minute deal, which prevented a strike, but prior to that, Air Canada had announced contingency plans to begin shutting down in the event of a strike.
“The proactive goodwill policies we put in place to mitigate our customers’ travel disruptions during the pilot contract negotiations was the right thing to do,” Galardo said. “During that time, we saw multiple weeks of softer booking volumes as some customers postponed or canceled their itineraries while others chose to fly with other carriers. This had an impact in Q3, particularly in September and continued to a lesser extent in the first half of October.”
Air Canada Q3 Metrics
Air Canada reported third-quarter revenue of C$6.1 billion (US$4.5 billion), a 3.8 percent year-over-year decrease. Passenger revenue was C$5.6 billion, down about C$260 million. Net income was C$2 billion, up from C$1.25 billion a year prior.
Capacity increased 3 percent year over year for the quarter, and the average fuel cost was C$0.982 per liter, according to Air Canada. The carrier projects a full-year 2024 capacity increase of 5 percent year over year.
During the third quarter, Sabre launched Air Canada’s New Distribution Capability content.
The carrier this week also announced on Jan. 15, 2025, it would resume Vancouver-Beijing daily service, and on Dec. 7, 2024, would increase its Vancouver-Shanghai service to daily, up from four times weekly.
