Air Canada had a “stronger-than-expected bounce back in corporate travel,” according to Mark Galardo, executive vice president of revenue and network planning, speaking on a fourth quarter earnings call. He said the improvement was largely experienced in the transborder sector, and the company sees that trend continuing.
In answer to a question about the imposition of tariffs by US President Donald Trump, Galardo said the carrier had not yet seen demand softness on US routes for the near future, but if that does happen, the carrier can “offset it with some difficult changes.”
Still, said Galardo, the current outlook includes “encouraging booking trends” for the next two quarters, including a “meaningful rebound” in the transatlantic market.
The airline reported fourth quarter revenue of 5.66 billion Canadian dollars (about $3.93 billion), an increase of 11% year over year. Full-year revenue was CA$21 billion (about $14.8 billion), up more than 7%.
Passenger revenue for the year was nearly CA$20 billion (about $14.1 billion), according to Galardo, an increase of 2% year over year. Volume grew significantly due to the carrier’s expansion in the Pacific, with traffic growing 25% year over year.
Air Canada had a net loss of CA$644 million (about $454 million) in the fourth quarter compared with net income of CA$184 million (about $129.7 million) one year prior. Net income for the full year was CA$1.72 billion (about $1.2 billion), down from the CA$2.28 billion (about $1.6 billion) reported in 2023.
Capacity increased 2.1% year over year for the fourth quarter and 5.4% for 2024. The airline expects 2025 capacity to increase 3% to 5% year over year.
