Air Transat gains ground, still posts Q3 financial loss

Transat AT, the parent company of Canadian airline Air Transat, reports stronger Q3 financial results compared with the pandemic-stunted figures of last year but still operated at a loss during the three-month period. The Montreal-based holiday specialist operated for only two days during the third quarter of 2021 as Canada’s strict coronavirus-related travel restrictions resulted in a complete shutdown, Annick Guerard, chief executive of Air Transat, said during an 8 September report on the company’s fiscal third-quarter earnings. Revenue for the three month-period ending on 31 July was C$508m ($387m), up significantly from C$13m during the fiscal third quarter of 2021 — a reflection of the Canadian airline industry’s broader restart. But that figure is only 73% of Q3 revenue in 2019, the last year unaffected by the pandemic. Overall, the company posted a loss of C$106m in the fiscal third quarter of 2022, compared with C$138m last year. High fuel prices “greatly dampen the improvement in our performance,” the company says, but were mitigated somewhat by higher ticket prices. Fuel prices dropped as the quarter progressed, and the airline posted a profit for July – the company’s first profitable month in two years, Transat says. The airline declined to provide specific financial figures for the month, however. “We are confident that the worst is now behind us,” Guerard says. Looking ahead, the company says bookings through the rest of the summer and upcoming winter months are “significant”. Fiscal third-quarter capacity was 82% of the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, but the airline anticipates Q4 capacity reaching 92% of 2019 levels.<br/>