Air Canada's passenger revenue increased 9.5 percent year
over year to 3.38 billion Canadian dollars in the fourth quarter. Both demand
and yield, an indication of pricing strength, improved year over year. Growth
was stronger in Air Canada's business cabin, for which revenue grew 15.3
percent to 96 million Canadian dollars, traffic rose 8.2 percent and yield increased
6.6 percent. Systemwide, traffic rose 9.9 percent and yield grew 1.4 percent.
Air Canada increased its capacity 9.5 percent year over year
during the fourth quarter, pushing its load factor up 0.3 percentage points to
80.2 percent. 2017 was a substantial growth year for the carrier, which added 30
routes and increased capacity by 11.6 percent.
The carrier reported a net income of 8 million Canadian
dollars for the quarter, compared with a loss of 179 million Canadian dollars
in the fourth quarter of 2016. A 16 million Canadian dollar tax expense
affected fourth-quarter 2017 earnings, after a 91 million Canadian dollar
expense related to pensions impacted fourth-quarter 2016 earnings.
For the full year 2017, Air Canada's net income
was 2.04 billion Canadian dollars, compared with 876 million Canadian dollars
in 2016.
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