Air Canada posts wider Q1 loss this year

Canada’s national carrier Air Canada recently announced its operational results for the first quarter of 2012 and was disappointed at the outcome.
The airline’s Q1 2012 outcome revealed that Air Canada flights ran into heavy losses.

The airline reported that it suffered a net loss of $209.81 million (C$210 million), or 76 cents a share, compared with $18.98 million (C$19 million), or 7 cents, a year earlier. The airline’s revenue advanced 7.6 percent to $2.95 billion (C$2.96 billion).

The airline in a statement said that it had to suffer losses because its fuel expenses increased. The fuel bill of Air Canada increased 20 percent to $888.20 million (C$889 million).

Air Canada further said that it also booked costs of $119.89 million (C$120 million) tied to Aveos, which shut down and filed for insolvency protection March 19, 2012.

Attributing other reasons for the widening losses, the airline stated that labor strife also had an impact, which culminated in a sickout by pilots March 18 and a wildcat strike by mechanics and baggage handlers five days later. The airline had to cancel many of its flights because of this and its bookings were heavily impacted.