Air Canada plans to boost 2015 capacity by up to 10 percent year
over year, largely through growth of international routes and its low-cost subsidiary
Rouge, executives said on Wednesday during the carrier's fourth-quarter
earnings call.
Expansion of Rouge will account for more than half of Air
Canada's capacity growth for 2015, according to the carrier. International
growth—including new routes between Toronto and both Amsterdam and Rio de
Janeiro as well as seasonal service between Vancouver and Osaka—will account
for 38 percent of capacity growth.
Air Canada has scaled back slightly its projected domestic Canadian
capacity growth for 2015 to between 3.5 percent and 4.5 percent, half a
percentage point less than the range projected in November. Much of that growth
will be on transcontinental services, including moving some Boeing 777 and 787
widebody aircraft to Toronto and Vancouver, according to executives.
For the full-year 2014, Air Canada reported a net income of
C$105 million, up from C$10 million in 2013. For the fourth quarter, the
carrier reported a loss of C$100 million, compared with a loss of C$6 million
in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Operating revenues during the fourth quarter increased 7.3
percent to C$3.1 billion. Ancillary revenue per passenger increased 18 percent
year over year during the quarter, due in part to the addition of a first-checked-bag fee for Tango fares on certain routes during the period,
executives said.
Passenger revenue per available seat mile declined 1.2
percent year over year during the quarter, and yield declined 1.9 percent.
Capacity increased 8.5 percent year over year during the quarter, and traffic
increased 9.4 percent, leading to a load factor of 81 percent, up 0.6
percentage points from the year prior.