Recession fears haven't deterred travelers, says Air Canadahttps://www.lapresse.ca/affaires/entreprises/2022-08-02/les-craintes-d-une-recession-n-ont-pas-decourage-les-voyageurs-dit-air-canada.php
here is a traduction for you folks
The management of the company made this observation during the unveiling of second quarter results on Tuesday. The air carrier, based in Montreal, has also recorded a decrease in its net loss thanks to the rebound in demand.
“Demand was strong in June and it continued during the third quarter, commented the head of commercial affairs, Lucie Guillemette, during a conference call with financial analysts. At this time, we do not see any effect related to forecasts of a possible economic slowdown. »
In a sign of the strength of anticipated demand, the liability for tickets sold in advance, that is, tickets sold in anticipation of a trip that has not yet taken place, has exceeded pre-pandemic thresholds. At 4.6 billion as of June 30, the amount of this liability is 24% higher than in the second quarter of 2019 (before the pandemic).
"It suggests a lot of traffic this summer and potentially this winter," said analyst Konark Gupta of Scotiabank.
Ms. Guillemette mentioned that the pace of the recovery accelerated during the month of June. She mentions that revenues increased by 15% from April to May while they increased by 25% to 30% from May to June.
Apologies for “temporary” problems
The rapid resumption of air travel, however, caught the global airline industry by surprise as travelers faced long queues, delays and even cancellations.
However, the situation has been particularly difficult in Canada, underlines the president and chief executive officer, Michael Rousseau. “We went from a virtual closure of air traffic, which lasted two years, to a return of capacity to almost 80% of 2019 thresholds in just a few months. »
During the conference call, management apologized for the inconvenience experienced by travelers and employees. Air Canada believes this is a temporary situation. “We have never seen demand increase so strongly in such a short period of time,” said Chief Operating Officer Craig Landry.
To give an idea of the scale of the rebound, Mr. Landry pointed out that the company had carried out 20,603 flights and transported 1.2 million customers in the second quarter of the previous year. A year later, Air Canada made 84,643 flights for 9.1 million passengers. "That's a fourfold increase in the number of flights and almost eight times as many passengers. »
The results
For the second quarter, Air Canada announced a net loss of 386 million, compared to a net loss of 1.165 billion for the same period last year. The diluted net loss per share reached $1.60, compared to a loss of $3.31 for the same period last year.
Revenues, for their part, increased fivefold to $3.98 billion.
Prior to the earnings release, analysts had expected a net loss of 83 cents per share, according to data firm Refinitiv.
In the morning, Air Canada shares lost 1 cent, or 0.06%, to $17.38 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.