By IANS,
Toronto : Reeling from fuel costs, Air Canada has reported a loss of $132 million for the third quarter of the year. During the same period last year, the world’s 11th largest airline had posted a profit of $273 million.
In a statement Friday, the Montreal-based airline said it netted just $112 million for the third quarter of 2008 as compared to $351 million in the third quarter of 2007. The huge dip in the income has been attributed to record fuel prices till September that cost the airline $348 million more in the third quarter, taking its fuel bill to $1.1 billion.
The airline said the 49 percent increase in fuel costs from the third quarter of 2007 offset gains in passenger revenues, which increased by $106 million or four percent from the same period last year.
The third-quarter loss also included non-cash mark-to-market net losses of $93 million on financial instruments, comprising mostly fuel hedge contracts, and net dip on foreign currency monetary items of $87 million, the airline said.
Said Montie Brewer, president and CEO of the airline: “I am pleased with the results we have achieved through our ongoing focus on disciplined capacity management. While we produced strong unit revenue growth and yields in the quarter, we were unable to fully offset record high fuel prices that represented an additional cost burden of $348 million compared to the same period last year.”
He said the airline was cutting costs to meet its stated improvement target of $100 million by end of the year.
“With our investments to offer customers an industry-leading product and the youngest, most fuel efficient fleet of any North American network carrier, we are well positioned to manage through the challenging environment,” the CEO said.