麻豆影视

Skip to main content

Air Canada bullish about business amid robust international demand

An Air Canada plane taxies down the runway at the Ottawa International Airport on Oct. 3, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press) An Air Canada plane taxies down the runway at the Ottawa International Airport on Oct. 3, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press)
Share

Air Canada on Friday raised its annual core profit forecast and announced share buybacks, as the country's largest carrier benefits from strong demand for international travel.

Major North American carriers with international operations are cashing in on booming demand for overseas travel and improved business bookings.

Air Canada is increasing its flights to China, while also adding capacity to other Asia-Pacific routes, even as it saw some pressure on transatlantic travel, the airline said.

Mark Galardo, Air Canada's executive vice-president for revenue and network planning, said the carrier is seeing early indications that transatlantic business will bounce back in 2025.

The Montreal-based carrier reported quarterly earnings ahead of analysts' expectations for revenues and adjusted profits, despite seeing weeks of softer booking volumes due to labour uncertainty as its pilots negotiated a new contract.

Last month, Air Canada signed a new labour deal with its pilots, which would give the aviators a general four-year cumulative pay hike of about 42 per cent, generating about $1.9 billion in additional value.

Air Canada is now monitoring how a weeks-long strike by more than 33,000 factory workers and a production crisis at U.S. planemaker Boeing would affect deliveries of the carrier's remaining 12 737 MAX aircraft, chief financial officer John Di Bert told analysts. Some deliveries are expected in 2025.

The airline also announced the repurchase of up to 35.78 million shares, its first buyback authorization since the COVID-19 pandemic. The repurchase aims to address the dilution that occurred due to its financing needs during the pandemic.

"The demand environment remains favourable. We have adjusted our full-year guidance and underlying assumptions to account for the evolution of the fuel price environment and for certain contract-related adjustments," CEO Michael Rousseau said.

The carrier now expects its 2024 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about $3.5 billion (US$2.51 billion), compared with its previous forecast of $3.1 billion to $3.4 billion.

Air Canada posted an adjusted profit of $2.57 per share in the third quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of $1.58, according to data compiled by LSEG.

It reported a quarterly operating revenue of $6.12 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30, down 3.8 per cent over the year earlier, but beat analysts' expectations of $6.06 billion.

The company lowered its expectation for average price of jet fuel to $1 per litre for 2024, from the previous estimate of $1.03.

(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Marguerita Choy)

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

A landlord from B.C.鈥檚 Lower Mainland who evicted a longtime tenant only to rent out the same unit months later for more money has been ordered to compensate him $16,480.

A convict who became Canada 's youngest designated dangerous offender after sexually assaulting a three-month-old baby is seeking escorted leave from prison to attend Indigenous cultural ceremonies in Vancouver.

Local Spotlight

Auston Matthews has come face to face with his look-alike. On Thursday, the Maple Leafs star met seven-year-old Grayson Joseph, who went viral for dressing up as an Auston Matthews hockey card.

A Halifax junk remover shares some of his company鈥檚 strangest discoveries.

When Leah arrived at work directing traffic around a construction site, she never expected to see a van painted in all sorts of bright colours, and covered in eclectic decorations, including a stuffed moose attached to its roof.

After 14 years of repairing and selling bicycles out of the garage of her home, a Guelph, Ont. woman鈥檚 efforts have ended 鈥 for now, at least.

Epcor says it has removed more than 20,000 goldfish from an Edmonton stormwater pond.

Witches and warlocks have been flocking to New Brunswick waterways this month, as a new Halloween tradition ripples across the province.

New Brunswicker Jillea Godin鈥檚 elaborate cosplay pieces attract thousands to her online accounts, as well as requests from celebrities for their own pieces.

A new resident at a Manitoba animal rescue has waddled her way into people's hearts.

Hundreds of people ran to the music of German composer and pianist Beethoven Wednesday night in a unique race in Halifax.

Stay Connected