Air Canada has become the first airline to be re-certified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for the safe transport of live animals by Air Canada Cargo. IATA awarded Air Canada Cargo with the Center of Excellence for Independent Validators for Live Animals Logistics (CEIV Live Animals) recertification following successful completion of the verification process.

Air Canada was the first airline to receive the CEIV Live Animals certification in 2018, a standardized global certification program to improve and reinforce the safety and welfare of animals travelling by air.

As part of the recertification process, a thorough audit was conducted by IATA’s specialists, who reviewed Air Canada Cargo’s live animal transport policies and procedures. Compliance with the IATA Live Animal Regulations (LAR) was fully reviewed as was compliance with protocols like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Air Canada aircraft photo gallery (current livery):

Air Canada has made this announcement:

In celebration of its 85th anniversary, Air Canada has donated its historic aircraft, an original Lockheed L-10A Electra airplane to Winnipeg’sRoyal Aviation Museum of Western Canada. The iconic aircraft, the first fleet type flown by the carrier, made its final journey as it taxied from the Air Canada hangar at WinnipegInternational Airport to the Museum at a handover ceremony. The airplane will go on permanent public display as an iconic piece of aviation history.

The aircraft, with registration CF-TCC, was one of three purchased by Air Canada’s forerunner, Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), in 1937. It was until recently one of only two Lockheed L10-A Electra aircraft still flying in the world.

Named after a bright star in the Pleiades star cluster, the 10A Electra was the pride of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. In the 1930s, this twin-engine, all-metal monoplane was the exciting new face of commercial aviation.

CF-TCC was one of three L-10A aircraft purchased by Trans-Canada Air Lines. The L-10A aircraft type operated TCA’s inaugural flight on September 1, 1937, a 50-minute trip from Vancouver to Seattle carrying mail and two passengers.

TCA had acquired the route plus two Lockheed L‐10A aircraft from Canadian Airways. In that same month, TCA bought three additional Lockheed L‐10A aircraft, brand new, from the Lockheed factory for $73,000 each. These aircraft were dubbed the “Three Sisters” and carried the registrations CF‐TCA, CF‐TCB, and CF‐TCC. The first aircraft, CF‐TCA is now at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa. CF-TCC last flew in 2018, and was one of two remaining Lockheed L‐10A Electra aircraft still flying in the world.

After being operated by TCA from 1937 to 1939, CF‐TCC was sold to the Department of Transport – Canada. During the next 40 years, the aircraft was sold several times to various private corporations and individuals.

In 1962, CF-TCC was leased by TCA and six of the original TCA pilots operated a commemorative flight across Canada on the occasion of TCAs 25^th Anniversary.

In 1975, a retired Air Canada employee recognized the faded old registration marks on the aircraft while attending an air show in Texas. Air Canada kept track of the aircraft until 1983, at which point the airline purchased back the aircraft, restored it, and flew it during the Air Canada 50th Anniversary celebrations in 1986. At the end of the Fifty stop Canadian tour, CF‐TCC was featured in the Air Canada pavilion during Expo 86 in Vancouver.

Since 1986, the aircraft has been maintained in flying condition. Volunteers and support from the broader aviation community, including from Air Canada Maintenance and Flight Operations, over the years have dedicated thousands of hours of personal time and other contributions into keeping CF‐TCC flying for generations to enjoy. When not flying, the aircraft has been based in the Western Canada Aviation Museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, or stored in Air Canada’s Winnipeg hangar.

On September 21, 2007, it recreated TCA’s first flight from Vancouver to Seattle, marking Air Canada’s 70^th Anniversary.

In 2012, as part of Air Canada’s 75th Anniversary Celebrations, CF‐TCC made several air show and public appearances, showcasing Air Canada’s heritage and the history of commercial aviation in Canada.

In 2017 to mark the carrier’s 80th anniversary, Air Canada’s Lockheed 10A took to the skies for a cross country tour, beginning with a public appearance at the Royal Aviation Museum in Winnipeg. Along the way, the aircraft made stops in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, Quebec City.

In 2022, on occasion of Air Canada’s 85^th anniversary, the airline’s Lockheed 10A made its final journey to the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada in Winnipeg. CF-TCC was taxied to the Museum from Air Canada’s Hangar by the aircraft’s long-time advocates and volunteers, Retired Captain Robert Giguere, Retired Captain Gerry Norberg, Retired Aircraft Maintenance Engineer George Huntington, and Air Canada Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Mike Clarkson.

Air Canada aircraft photo gallery:

Air Canada today provided the following update on its operational improvement initiatives implemented in response to the challenges the global airline industry has encountered emerging from the pandemic.

“At Air Canada, we know how much our customers value travel and their reliance on us to transport them safely, comfortably and without disruption. This is always our goal and we share with them their disappointment that, coming out of the pandemic, the global industry faltered due to the unprecedented challenges of restarting after a two-year, virtual shutdown,” said Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive of Air Canada.

“Earlier this summer, I committed on behalf of everyone at Air Canada that we would do everything possible to restore our company’s industry leading standards of customer care. Among other things, this included innovation at the airport, operational changes and significant schedule adjustments and today these are yielding demonstrable improvement in the metrics that matter most to our customers. While I am very satisfied with the progress to date, and I thank our employees for their unrelenting efforts, we all continue to work hard on behalf of our customers to complete our recovery.”

For the period June 27 to August 14, during which it carried approximately 6.4 million customers, the Air Canada family (including Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge and Air Canada Express), recorded the following operational improvements as it returns to its pre-pandemic customer service levels:

• Flight Delays – Comparing the week of June 27 to the week of August 8, there was a 48% reduction or 1,160 fewer flights that took a delay longer than one hour. In addition, flight delays overall are getting shorter.  For flights that experienced any delay, the average arrival delay during the week of June 27 was 28 minutes longer than the same week in 2019.  As of the week of August 8, this had improved to 12 minutes.

• Flight Cancellations – There has been a substantial reduction in the volume of flight cancellations.  During the week of August 8, there was a 77% reduction in the number of cancelled flights as compared to the week of June 27.  This translates into 960 fewer flights cancelled.  Furthermore, flight completion, which is the percentage of all scheduled flights that are not canceled, reached 96.7% during the week of August 8, which was less than one percentage point lower than the same week in 2019. The vast majority of customers experiencing cancellations, often due to weather or other unexpected factors, were able to travel within 24 hours.

• Baggage Handling – The strongest area of improvement over this period can be seen in baggage handling, where the airline handles over 650,000 bags per week.  During the week of June 27, mishandling rates per 1,000 customers were approximately 2.5 times the same number in 2019.  As of the week of August 8, this rate has fully recovered to 2019 levels with a baggage handling success rate of 98%.

Air Canada continues to work with its partners to address the issues disrupting the air transport ecosystem in Canada. Evidence of the success of these joint efforts is a marked decrease in delays and cancellations for airlines, contributing to increased overall stability in Air Canada’s operations. This has resulted in an enhanced customer experience, with better on-time performance, schedule reliability and baggage delivery.

Each day on average, Air Canada currently operates nearly 1,100 flights and regularly carries 135,000 people. Air Canada has been prudently restoring its schedule as it recovers from the effects of COVID-19 and this summer it plans to operate 79 per cent of its pre-pandemic capacity as the industry stabilizes. In support of this, the carrier has recalled employees laid off during the pandemic and continues to hire additional workers. It currently has approximately 34,000 employees compared to 34,700 prior to the pandemic.

Air Canada aircraft photo gallery:

Air Canada today reported its second quarter 2022 financial results.

“The past three months have been very challenging for our company, our employees, and customers from an operational perspective.  The path to recovery from any serious event is rarely straight and easy. I thank our employees for their incredibly hard work, demonstrated professionalism and commitment as we safely transported over 9.1 million customers in the quarter, nearly 8 million more than the second quarter of 2021 or about 70% of total customers carried in the full year 2021,” said Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada.

“The industry worldwide is facing unprecedented conditions as it emerges from pandemic-related restrictions.  The situation is particularly challenging in Canada, where we have gone from a near two-year shutdown of air travel to rebuilding our capacity back to close to 80 per cent of 2019 levels in just a few months.  Despite meticulous planning and projecting, participants involved in the air transport system are facing significant pressure in restarting.  We continue to work together to restore the travel experience to expectations and are encouraged by recent improvements.”

“From a financial perspective, we are pleased with our results as we generated $154 million of EBITDA* in the quarter, a significant increase from a negative quarterly EBITDA of $656 million a year ago, and operating revenues neared $4 billion in the quarter, an improvement of about $3.1 billion from the second quarter of 2021. Compared to pre-pandemic levels, 2022 second quarter advance ticket sales reached 94 per cent of those in the same quarter of 2019. In the second quarter, our operating capacity, measured by available seat miles, was 73 per cent of the same quarter in 2019, and despite the lower capacity, passenger revenues were 80 per cent of those generated in the second quarter of 2019, driven by higher yields,” said Mr. Rousseau.

“We expected travel would rebound significantly once restrictions were lifted and prepared accordingly.  We entered the peak summer travel period at close to 90 per cent of our pre-pandemic staffing levels, while prudently planning to operate approximately 80 per cent of our pre-pandemic schedule over that period. In the second quarter of 2022, we delivered a load factor of 80.5%, representing a significant improvement from the second quarter of 2021 levels but still declined about four percentage points from the second quarter of 2019.  To further support the industry’s recovery efforts and mitigate the short-term impact on customers and employees, we recently took additional steps to flatten peaks and smooth the flow of traffic, by proactively reducing our schedule over July and August.”

“Finally, while many participants play a unique and essential role in the air transport system, we recognize that our customers experience these interconnected efforts as a single journey. We are working closely with our service providers and governments to keep addressing the issues aviation is facing in Canada and globally. We acknowledge the inconveniences and disruptions some of our customers have faced, and we deeply regret this.  This is not business as usual for us.  We thank our customers for their understanding and the loyalty they are showing to Air Canada in these unprecedented times,” concluded Mr. Rousseau.

Air Canada reported the following financial results for the second quarter of 2022:

• Operating capacity, measured by Available Seat Miles (ASMs) increased about five times from the second quarter of 2021. Capacity in the second quarter was 73 per cent of the second quarter of 2019, in line with projections in Air Canada’s first quarter 2022 earnings release dated April 26, 2022.
• Passenger revenues of $3.441 billion increased about eight times from the second quarter of 2021.
• Operating revenues of $3.981 billion increased almost five times from the second quarter of 2021.
• Operating expenses of $4.234 billion increased $2.264 billion from the second quarter of 2021.
• Cost per available seat mile (CASM) decreased to 20.8 cents from the second quarter 2021 CASM of 49.3 cents.
• Adjusted cost per available seat mile (Adjusted CASM)* of 13.1 cents compared to second quarter 2021 adjusted CASM of 41.5 cents.
• Operating loss of $253 million, an improvement when compared to an operating loss of $1.133 billion in the second quarter of 2021.
• EBITDA* (excluding special items) or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of $154 million, better than the negative EBITDA of $656 million in the second quarter of 2021.
• Net loss of $386 million or $1.60 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $1.165 billion or $3.31 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2021.
• Cash from operations of $1.077 billion compared to cash used in operations of $1.377 billion in the second quarter of 2021. This improvement of $2.454 billion was driven by better operating results and strong advance ticket sales in the second quarter of 2022, and considers the refund of eligible non-refundable tickets, which amounted to $997 million in the second quarter of 2021.

* EBITDA (excluding special items), EBITDA margin, adjusted pre-tax income (loss), free cash flow, net debt, and adjusted CASM (discussed in this news release) are non-GAAP financial measures, non-GAAP ratios, or supplemental financial measures. Such measures are not recognized measures for financial statement presentation under GAAP, do not have standardized meanings, may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities and should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results. Refer to the “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section of this news release for descriptions of Air Canada non-GAAP financial measures, non-GAAP ratios, and supplemental financial measures, and for a reconciliation of Air Canada non-GAAP measures used in this news release to the most comparable GAAP financial measure.

Easing of Travel Restrictions

During the second quarter of 2022, there was a further easing of travel restrictions by the Government of Canada. These changes included:

• Since April 1, 2022, fully vaccinated travellers are no longer required to provide a negative pre-entry COVID-19 test result.
• Randomized testing for fully vaccinated travellers was temporarily suspended as of June 11, 2022, and resumed on July 19, 2022 (including for unvaccinated and for randomly selected fully vaccinated travellers) though it is now performed offsite.
• Since June 20, 2022, passengers are no longer required to present a proof of vaccination for boarding an aircraft in Canada. The requirements for passengers entering Canada remain unchanged.

Foreign nationals must qualify as fully vaccinated to enter Canada unless they meet an exemption set out in the Orders made under the Quarantine Act. Generally, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated travellers allowed to enter Canada remain subject to the federal requirement to quarantine and take a COVID-19 test prior to arrival, at arrival, and on day eight after arrival.

Route Network and Schedule

In late June 2022, in response to the unprecedented challenges faced by the air transportation system, Air Canada decided to proactively cancel about 8% of its scheduled flights in July and August 2022. This reduction represents about 154 fewer flights per day, on average, primarily on domestic and U.S. transborder routes to and from Toronto and Montreal(at peak times), or a total of about 378 million ASMs.

Fleet

In July 2022, Air Canada finalized an agreement for the purchase of two new Boeing 777 freighter aircraft with deliveries expected in 2024.

For the third quarter of 2022, Air Canada plans to increase its ASM capacity by about 131 per cent from the same quarter in 2021 (or approximately 79 per cent of third quarter 2019 ASM capacity).

Air Canada is now providing the following guidance for the full year 2022:

• Air Canada plans to increase its full year 2022 ASM capacity by about 150 per cent from 2021 ASM levels (or about 74 per cent of 2019 ASM levels). Air Canada will continue to adjust capacity and take other measures as required, including to account for passenger demand, public health guidelines, and travel restrictions globally, as well as other factors, such as inflation and other cost pressures.
• For 2022, Air Canada expects Adjusted CASM to be about 15 to 17 per cent above 2019 levels. The variance to prior guidance is mainly due to an increase in the number of customers carried, which translates into higher passenger service and distribution costs. To a lesser extent, it is also attributable to an increase in wages, salaries and benefits.
• For 2022, Air Canada maintains its expectation of an annual EBITDA margin* of about 8 to 11 per cent.

Major Assumptions

Assumptions were made by Air Canada in preparing and making forward-looking statements. Among these, Air Canada assumes moderate Canadian GDP growth for 2022. Air Canada now assumes that the Canadian dollar will trade, on average, at C$1.28 per U.S. dollar for the full year 2022 and that the price of jet fuel will average C$1.27 per litre for the full year 2022.

Air Canada aircraft photo gallery: