Air Canada Reports December and Full Year Load Factor

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Jan 06, 2015, 17:42 ET

Record Load Factor for Full Year 2014 with traffic increase of 8.5 per cent on capacity increase of 7.8 per cent
Provides comment on Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport operations

MONTREAL, Jan. 6, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - For the month of December 2014, Air Canada reported a near record system load factor of 82.6 per cent, its second highest system load factor ever on a system-wide capacity increase of 8.5 per cent, versus a load factor of 82.7 per cent in December 2013. On this additional capacity, system wide traffic for December increased 8.3 per cent. For the full year 2014, load factor was a record 83.4 per cent, versus 82.8 per cent in 2013, an increase 0.6 percentage points. Air Canada reports traffic results on a system-wide basis, including Air Canada rouge^TM, which began operations on July 1, 2013, and regional airlines from which Air Canada purchases capacity.

"I am pleased to report our highest load factor ever for the full year 2014 and second highest for the month of December on continued strong traffic growth of 8.5 and 8.3 per cent, respectively," said Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Led by an increase in traffic in the U.S. transborder market of 16.2 per cent, Air Canada generated greater traffic for the month of December in all markets the airline serves. These strong results, for both the month and full year, underscore the effectiveness of our commercial strategy focusing on international growth and the strategic deployment of Air Canada rouge to compete more effectively in leisure markets. I thank our employees for taking care of our customers while transporting them safely to their destination. Their professionalism and efforts in earning our customers' loyalty have been recognized by many industry awards, including the selection of Air Canada as the Best Airline in North America by frequent world travellers."

In 2014, Air Canada was ranked for a fifth consecutive year "Best Airline in North America" in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers conducted by Skytrax. According to the 2014 Canadian Business Travel Survey conducted by Ipsos Reid, Air Canada was the preferred airline of 83 percent of Canadian frequent business travellers. In 2014, readers of Global Traveler magazine again voted Air Canada "Best Airline in North America," the readers of Business Traveler voted Air Canada "Best North American Airline for International Travel" and "Best North America Airline Inflight Experience," and the readers of Premier Traveler voted Air Canada "Best Flight Attendants in North America."

Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport Operations

While Air Canada's traffic and load factor at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport increased in 2014 over the previous year, as part of its continuing cost transformation initiatives, Air Canada is assessing the viability of Billy Bishop operations based on current imposed terminal rates and terms.

		December			Q4			Year-To-Date
		2014	2013	Change	2014	2013	Change	2014	2013	Change
Traffic (RPMs mln)		4,988	4,604	+8.3%	14,090	12,883	+9.4%	61,615	56,791	+8.5%
Capacity (ASMs mln)		6,039	5,565	+8.5%	17,403	16,034	+8.5%	73,888	68,572	+7.8%
Load Factor		82.6%	82.7%	-0.1 pts	81.0%	80.3%	+0.7 pts	83.4%	82.8%	+0.6 pts

Canada	RPMs	1,413	1,331	+6.2%	4,191	3,933	+6.6%	17,662	16,779	+5.3%
	ASMs	1,703	1,615	+5.4%	5,023	4,736	+6.1%	21,225	20,261	+4.8%
	LF	83.0%	82.4%	+0.6 pts	83.4%	83.0%	+0.4 pts	83.2%	82.8%	+0.4 pts

US Transborder	RPMs	953	820	+16.2%	2,479	2,147	+15.5%	10,261	9,073	+13.1%
	ASMs	1,216	1,043	+16.6%	3,122	2,741	+13.9%	12,518	11,398	+9.8%
	LF	78.4%	78.6%	-0.2 pts	79.4%	78.3%	+1.1 pts	82.0%	79.6%	+2.4 pts

Atlantic	RPMs	1,067	979	+9.0%	3,256	2,886	+12.8%	16,173	14,238	+13.6%
	ASMs	1,259	1,191	+5.7%	4,124	3,794	+8.7%	19,637	17,187	+14.3%
	LF	84.7%	82.2%	+2.5 pts	79.0%	76.1%	+2.9 pts	82.4%	82.8%	-0.4 pts

Pacific	RPMs	1,034	974	+6.2%	2,967	2,756	+7.7%	12,376	11,834	+4.6%
	ASMs	1,231	1,128	+9.1%	3,649	3,332	+9.5%	14,397	13,809	+4.3%
	LF	84.0%	86.3%	-2.3 pts	81.3%	82.7%	-1.4 pts	86.0%	85.7%	+0.3 pts

Latin America & Caribbean	RPMs	521	500	+4.2%	1,197	1,161	+3.1%	5,143	4,867	+5.7%
	ASMs	630	588	+7.1%	1,485	1,431	+3.8%	6,111	5,917	+3.3%
	LF	82.7%	85.0%	-2.3 pts	80.6%	81.1%	-0.5 pts	84.2%	82.3%	+1.9 pts

The calculation of passenger load factor is based on whole figures and not on rounded million.

About Air Canada

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 180 destinations on five continents. Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2013 served more than 35 million customers. Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 61 Canadian cities, 50 destinations in the United States and 77 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,321 airports in 193 countries. Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax that ranked Air Canada in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers as Best Airline in North America in 2014 for the fifth consecutive year. For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com.