Air Canada Lost Almost 90% Of Its Revenue & Wants The Government To Reopen The Country
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The results are in. Air Canada's COVID-19 losses are pretty huge with an almost 90% decline in revenue from last year. The airline wants the government to reopen the country and get economic activity going again.
Air Canada reported its second-quarter results for 2020 and it has taken some pretty big hits.
When it comes to revenue, it declined by 89% from the second quarter of 2019. That's because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The airline also put the blame on government-imposed travel restrictions for the loss.
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Along with the drop in cash flow, the number of passengers that the airline carried in the second quarter of this year declined by 96% compared to last year.
There was also an operating loss of $1.555 billion.
"Canada's federal and inter-provincial restrictions have been among the most severe in the world," said Calin Rovinescu, president and CEO of Air Canada, in a news release.
He noted that shutting down most commercial air travel combined with low demand is why the airline carried less than 4% of the passengers that it did during the same time last year.
Rovinescu said that the declines reported "should reinforce the tremendous urgency for governments in Canada to take reasonable steps to safely reopen our country and restore economic activity."
Air Canada has, along with other corporations and companies, called on the federal government to get rid of blanket travel restrictions and quarantines.
Instead, the airline would like to see targeted and evidence-based measures that reflect the current situation in Canada.
The carrier's chief medical officer sent a letter to the minister of transport and the minister of health along with other government officials to voice his concerns.
Air Canada is operating a reduced summer schedule right now.
There are flights available to almost 100 destinations, which is significantly fewer than the 220 destinations the airline flew to in 2019.
At the end of June, Air Canada shut down 30 domestic routes because of low travel demand.
The Canadian airline suspended almost all of its international flights back in April because of the COVID-19 pandemic.