Air Canada posts record Q3 results

Air Canada reported its third quarter results today, including an adjusted net income of $457 million - up $92 million compared to an adjusted net income of $365 in the third quarter of 2013.

System passenger revenues in the third quarter of 2014 amounted to $3,476 million, an increase of $299 million, or 9.4 per cent, from the third quarter of 2013, on an 11 per cent growth in traffic as yield declined 1.3 per cent year-over-year.  An increase in average stage length of 2.6 per cent, due to international long-haul growth, had the effect of reducing system yield by 1.5 percentage points.

Passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) decreased 0.2 per cent from the same quarter in 2013, as the lower yield was almost fully offset by a passenger load factor improvement of 1.0 percentage points. In the third quarter of 2014, system business cabin revenues increased $31 million or 5.3 per cent on yield growth of 5.3 per cent.  All markets experienced business cabin PRASM improvements year-over-year.

Operating expenses in the third quarter of 2014 amounted to $3,272 million, an increase of $209 million or seven per cent from the third quarter of 2013, on a 9.8 per cent increase in capacity. The unfavourable impact of a weaker Canadian dollar on foreign currency denominated operating expenses (mainly U.S. dollars), when compared to same quarter in 2013, increased operating expenses by $68 million, said the carrier.

In the third quarter of 2014, Air Canada recorded operating income of $526 million compared to operating income of $416 million in the third quarter of 2013, an improvement of $110 million or 26.4 per cent. Operating margin of 13.8 per cent improved 1.8 percentage points in the third quarter of 2014 when compared to the third quarter of 2013.

The carrier also posted its October 2014 load factor this week, reporting a system load factor of 82.1 per cent, up from 81.3 per cent reported in October 2013.