Air Canada aims to offset rising fuel costs in part with
fare increases, president and CEO Calin Rovinescu said in the carrier's second-quarter
earnings call. As the carrier saw a 30.9 percent year-over-year increase in
fuel cost per liter during the second quarter, Rovinescu said Air Canada would
mitigate about 75 percent of higher fuel costs this year through fare increases
along with "other commercial initiatives and our cost transformation
program."
During the second quarter, Air Canada's passenger revenue
grew 10.4 percent year over year to $3.92 billion Canadian, driven by an 8.2
percent increase in traffic and a 2 percent rise in yield. Revenue in business
class cabins climbed 13.7 percent. Capacity rose 7.5 percent, and load factor
increased 0.5 percentage points to 83.1 percent.
Air Canada reported a loss of $77 million Canadian for the
quarter, compared with a net income of $311 million Canadian in the second
quarter of 2017. Results this year included a $186 million Canadian loss on
disposal of assets and foreign exchange losses of $25 million Canadian.
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Air Canada Q1 earnings