April 6, 2009, Montreal - For the month of March, Air Canada today
reported a load factor of 80.7 per cent on a consolidated basis with Jazz,
versus 82.9 per cent in March 2008, a decrease of 2.2 percentage points.
System traffic decreased 13.5 per cent on a capacity reduction of 11.1 per cent system wide.
Air Canada mainline reported a load factor of 81.8 per cent in March 2009
compared to 83.6 per cent in March 2008; a decrease of 1.8 percentage points.
The mainline carrier flew 13.1 per cent fewer revenue passenger miles (RPMs)
in March 2009 than in March 2008 on a capacity decrease of 11.3 per cent.
Jazz, from which Air Canada purchases regional capacity, reported a load
factor of 69.5 per cent, a decrease of 7.0 percentage points from 76.5 per
cent in March 2008. Capacity decreased by 9.1 per cent from March 2008 and the
carrier flew 17.5 per cent fewer RPMs than in the previous March.
"For the month of March, Air Canada reported a strong load factor of 80.7
per cent on a consolidated basis with Jazz," said Calin Rovinescu, President
and Chief Executive Officer. "The significant traffic historically generated
by Easter holidays has shifted to April this year, as opposed to March last
year, making year-over-year comparisons less meaningful. Forecasted lower
travel demand for March was accounted for through planned capacity
adjustments. We will continue this disciplined approach to capacity management
and will make adjustments as necessary to meet peak summer season travel
demand.
"I commend our employees who exceeded both Customer Satisfaction and
On-Time Performance objectives for the month, achieving on-time arrivals
performance of 81 per cent for the month of March, a 13 percentage poin
improvement over the same month a year ago."
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