Air Canada has reported its fourth quarter and full year 2022 financial results.
Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada said :
"We are pleased with our fourth quarter and full year 2022 financial results. We reported record fourth quarter passenger and operating revenues, surpassing our results from a year ago and those of the fourth quarter of 2019. This was due to solid demand and yield environments across our network. This progress was also a result of the dedication and hard work of our employees who safely transported more than two million customers during a holiday period challenged by severe winter weather across North America, and to our entire team who successfully executed on our strategy. I warmly thank them,".
"Our performance is attributable to the deep resilience we have built into our company for long-term stability. We reported positive cash flows from operations in the fourth quarter of $647 million and positive free cash flow of $320 million. We exercised diligent cost control. Our adjusted EBITDA of $389 million was $367 million better than a year ago. For the full year, we reported adjusted EBITDA of $1.457 billion and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 8.8 per cent, meeting our full-year 2022 guidance. We ended the year with total liquidity of more than $9.8 billion.
"These results also validate our strategy of diversifying our revenue sources. In our core passenger business, revenue was about two per cent higher than in the fourth quarter of 2019. Revenue from our premium cabins was about 13 per cent higher, supported in part by Aeroplan. The loyalty program's active membership is at an all-time high and continues to grow, and Air Canada Cargo revenue was up 55 per cent compared to the same quarter pre-pandemic. Similarly, Air Canada Vacations ground package revenues contributed to the growth in other revenues of $62 million, or 23 per cent higher than the fourth quarter of 2019," said Mr. Rousseau.
Jon Turner, Vice President, Cargo, at Air Canada said :
“As Air Canada returned all temporarily converted passenger aircraft back to their core mission of flying passengers, the cargo team continued to grow market share across some of the largest global trade routes. The results achieved during this transition year validate our long-term growth strategy for Air Canada Cargo. In 2022, we introduced our second and third freighters and opened 13 new freighter markets. Our continued expansion would not be possible without strong relationships with our industry partners and the phenomenal Air Canada Cargo team working across the globe to develop our business. As we look forward to 2023 and prepare to welcome four additional freighter aircraft this year, we remain laser focussed on building a freighter program that complements our global passenger network and ensures shippers have access to reliable, year-round capacity,”.
For the first quarter of 2023, Air Canada plans to increase its ASM capacity by about 50 per cent from the same quarter in 2022.
