Air Canada says encouraged by government aid talks after carrier reports loss

Air Canada’s CE and a top union official on Friday expressed confidence Ottawa would provide an aid package for airlines after the carrier reported its biggest annual loss in at least 19 years due to COVID-19. Air Canada shares were up 4.5% in afternoon trade. It reported a net loss for 2020 of C$4.65b compared with a 2019 profit of C$1.48b. Airlines have been among the hardest hit by the epidemic as people stay home. Canada’s largest carrier, which last year cut over half its workforce, or 20,000 jobs, and other airlines are negotiating with the Liberal government on an aid package. “I am very encouraged by the constructive nature of discussions that we have had ... I am more optimistic on this front for the first time,” Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu said, a day after Canada approved the carrier’s purchase of rival Transat. Jerry Dias, president of the Unifor private sector trade union, said he was confident an aid deal would happen.<br/>