Air Canada's third-quarter corporate revenue increased again by a double-digit percentage year over year, chief commercial officer Mark Galardo said on a Thursday evening earnings call.
"Even in the summer period, corporate revenue performed well, up 22 percent year over year," Galardo said.
He added that corporate revenue continues to "evolve very favorably" and for the fourth quarter is in line to again be up by a double-digit percentage compared with Q4 2025.
Meanwhile, third-quarter premium-cabin revenue increased 19 percent year over year, Galardo said.
Like other carriers, elevated fuel prices were a headwind for Air Canada in the quarter. The carrier had C$906 million of higher fuel costs than the year prior, said Air Canada CFO John Di Bert. Despite increasing fares, the carrier recovered 46 percent of incremental fuel expense in the quarter, below an original expectation of 60 percent. The rate of recovery for the fourth quarter is projected at 70 percent, he added.
"When fuel spiked in September, approximately 50 percent of our fourth-quarter bookings had already been sold, creating a natural lag before our pricing actions could be fully reflected in fares," Di Bert said.
The carrier also is managing capacity to mitigate fuel expense and has removed two points of planned capacity growth from the first quarter of 2027, Galardo said. Air Canada last month announced it would suspend nonstop Vancouver-Singapore service in January.
"We [also] are looking at the more marginal flying reductions, so that would be midweek cancellations on certain routes," he added. "We'll be looking at reducing utilization somewhat, and you can see by the suspension of our Singapore route, we're also reevaluating the ultra-long-haul part of our business as that's a bit more exposed to the higher fuel prices."
Air Canada Q3 Metrics
Air Canada reported third-quarter passenger revenue of more than C$6.3 billion, up from C$5.2 billion reported a year prior. Total revenue was nearly C$7 billion, a record, compared with about C$5.8 billion in Q3 2025. Net income for the period was C$146 million versus net income of C$264 million a year prior.
Third-quarter capacity increased 5.7 percent year over year. The fuel cost was C$1.48 per liter compared with 88 cents per liter in Q3 2025.
Air Canada projects fourth-quarter fuel costs to be C$1.72 per liter. The carrier also revised its full-year guidance. It now expects capacity for 2026 to increase 2.75 percent year over year compared with prior guidance of an increase between 2.25 percent and 3.25 percent.
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