Air Canada committed to non-stop Sydney services

Despite media speculation, Air Canada currently has no plans to drop capacity on its non-stop Sydney–Vancouver services and also denies that it is “struggling” to fill seats.

Speaking to e-Travel Blackboard in a phone interview, Jeanie Foster, Air Canada Australia and New Zealand GM, denies recent reports in other publications that the airline is “struggling” on its SYD–YVR route calling it “media hype”.

“We’ve had a very strong 12 months and we’ve met our targets each month of 2008, except for October” says Ms Foster.  “It’s true that October wasn’t great... but we [Air Canada] know that it’s due to an internal pricing issue.”

The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) statistics show that in October, Air Canada filled 3,417 of its 7,769 available seats out of Sydney, thereby achieving a 44% load factor.

“I’m puzzled at the reports of 44% load factors [as] our own figures show that revenue was good in October, in fact it was above last October’s figures.”

Ms Foster says the non-stop services from Sydney to Vancouver have performed “incredibly well” for the airline, and the company is expecting full year results for 2008 on the route to already show profitability.

“It’s one of the best moves we’ve made, I wish we’d have launched the route sooner... so there’s absolutely no plans at the moment to cut capacity.”

Air Canada has revealed to e-Travel Blackboard that November, December and January were all good months on the SYD-YVR route, with December “by far exceeding targets” despite the global economic downturn.

Maintaining profitability

Air Canada says that it’s working hard to maintain profitability in 2009, and it may mean cancelling select services on a “flight by flight” basis.

“Of course we have no way of seeing what’s to come for the year... so we may need to cancel some services but these will all be reviewed on a flight-by-flight basis,” says Ms Foster.

“We won’t be cutting them left and right,” she continues. “Only two flights have been cancelled for February... And we will always give weeks and weeks of notice, as well as assist on transferring passengers to other flights.”

While Air Canada is “disappointed” in the ACCC blocking the cooperation agreement with Air new Zeaalnd, the airline has pledged that it will not impact on its existing operations, including existing codeshare agreements between the two carriers.

“It’s just business as usual.”