Air Canada logos on the tails of planes at the airport in Montreal, on June 26, 2023.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Air Canada AC-T cut its full-year core profit forecast on Monday, as excess capacity in certain markets and stiff competition on international routes impacted its pricing power, sending the airline’s shares down about 4 per cent.
A rush among carriers to cash in on summer travel demand has forced airlines to offer discounts on tickets to fill their planes.
The updated forecast reflects the lower yield environment, less-than-expected load factors for the second half of the year and competitive pressures in international markets, Canada’s largest carrier said on Monday.
The airline now expects its 2024 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to be in the range of C$3.1 billion ($2.26 billion) to C$3.4 billion, compared with its previous forecast of C$3.7 billion to C$4.2 billion.
It tightened its unit cost forecast and now expects its full-year adjusted cost per available seat mile (CASM) to grow 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent, compared with previous expectations of a 2.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent increase.
“Although the carrier seems to have made some strides in managing its seat mile costs, the demand environment looks weaker than we anticipated,” Citi analyst Stephen Trent wrote in a note.
Air Canada reported preliminary second-quarter operating revenue of C$5.5 billion, up 1.7 per cent from a year earlier. Analysts on average were expecting C$5.65 billion, according to LSEG data.
The carrier also expects an operating income of C$466 million, compared with C$802 million a year earlier.