Air Canada has reported operating revenues of $2.573 billion in the first quarter of 2022, nearly 3.5 times the figure for the same period a year earlier.
The airline also cut its operating loss in half -- $550 million compared to $1.049 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
"The substantial year-over-year improvement in Air Canada's first quarter results is clear evidence that a recovery is underway," said Michael Rousseau, President and CEO.
"The year began with weakness brought on by the Omicron variant and travel restrictions. However, we quickly rebounded in March with passenger volumes exceeding the strong December levels and passenger ticket sales in March 2022 over 90% of March 2019 levels, a leading indicator to much stronger 2022 second and third quarter results."
Air Canada still has a distance to travel to recovery. First quarter capacity, measured by Available Seat Miles (ASMs), increased about 3.4 times from the first quarter of 2021. But it still represents a decline of 45% from the first quarter of 2019.
"Air Canada is rapidly adapting for the post-pandemic world," said Rousseau. "Given pent-up travel demand, the demonstrated loyalty of our customers, and the expected further removal of travel-related government restrictions, Air Canada anticipates its recovery will gain momentum through the balance of 2022 and beyond," he said.
For the second quarter, Air Canada plans to increase capacity by approximately 414% from the same quarter in 2021 (which equates to about 73% of second quarter capacity).
For the full year, AC plans to increase capacity by about 150% from 2021 levels -- about 75% of 2019 levels.
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