Air Canada's fourth quarter featured a "stronger-then-expected bounce back in corporate travel," the carrier's EVP of revenue and network planning, Mark Galardo, said on a Friday morning earnings call.
"In some cases, it was almost double digits better year-over-year," Galardo added. "Largely experienced in the transborder sector, and going into Q1 we see that continuing."
Air Canada also is "proactively" reducing capacity from March onward to some leisure destinations, such as Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona, Galardo said.
When asked whether that move is the result of U.S. president Donald Trump's threats to levy tariffs on Canadian goods—though such tariff plans currently are on hold, some Canadians have vowed to boycott trips to the U.S.—Galardo said the carrier is not yet seeing close-in demand softness on U.S. routes, but if it does, Air Canada can "offset it with some difficult changes."
Still, the current outlook includes "encouraging booking trends" for Q2 and into Q3, Galardo said, including a "meaningful rebound" in the transatlantic market.
Air Canada Q4, FY2024 Metrics
Air Canada reported fourth-quarter revenue of C$5.66 billion (US$3.93 billion), an increase of 11 percent year over year. Full-year revenue was C$21 billion, up more than 7 percent.
Passenger revenue for the year was nearly C$20 billion, according to Galardo, an increase of 2 percent year over year. Volume grew significantly due to the carrier's expansion in the Pacific, most notably in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong, with traffic growing 25 percent year over year, he said.
The carrier had a Q4 2024 net loss of C$644 million compared with net income of C$184 million one year prior. Net income for the full year was C$1.72 billion, down from the C$2.28 billion reported in 2023.
Capacity increased 2.1 percent year over year for the fourth quarter and 5.4 percent for 2024. Air Canada projects 2025 capacity to increase 3 percent to 5 percent year over year.
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