Air Canada Q3 Profit Jumps On Tax Gain

Air Canada reported a third quarter net profit increase of 132 percent as it benefited from deferred income tax.

Total revenue for the quarter to end September was CAD$4.88 billion, from $4.45 billion in the previous year quarter. With operating expenses of $3.88 billion, the airline returned an operating profit of just over $1 billion. Pre-tax income of $993 million was boosted by a $793 million recovery of income tax resulting in net profit of $1.79 billion.

“Air Canada delivered its best ever third quarter financial performance,” the airline’s chief executive Calin Rovinescu said. “These record results underscore the success of the multi-year transformation of our business model.”

Air Canada carried just under 14 million passengers during the quarter, a 5 percent increase on last year. Passenger traffic in revenue passenger miles (RPM) terms was up 8.8 percent on an available seat miles (ASM) capacity increase of 9.1 percent. The resulting load factor edged down 0.2 of a percentage point to 85.3 percent.

Passenger yield nudged up 0.4 percent to 16.6 Canadian cents, and PRASM 0.1 of a percent to 14.2 cents. CASM was a wafer lower at 12.5 cents.

Looking forward, Air Canada forecasts fourth quarter cost per available seat mile (CASM) to drop by between 0.5 and 1.5 percent. For the full year it is expected to be down by between 3.0 and 4.0 percent against 2016.