Despite serious operational difficulties, Air Canada posted a much stronger financial result in the second quarter, with operating revenues soaring from less than $1 billion in 2021 to nearly $4 billion in 2022. A net loss of $386 million compares to a net loss of $1.165 billion in the second quarter of 2021.

"The past three months have been very challenging for our company, our employees, and customers from an operational perspective,” said President and CEO Michael Rousseau.

“The path to recovery from any serious event is rarely straight and easy. I thank our employees for their incredibly hard work, demonstrated professionalism and commitment as we safely transported over 9.1 million customers in the quarter, nearly 8 million more than the second quarter of 2021 or about 70% of total customers carried in the full year 2021."

Rousseau added: "The industry worldwide is facing unprecedented conditions as it emerges from pandemic-related restrictions. The situation is particularly challenging in Canada, where we have gone from a near two-year shutdown of air travel to rebuilding our capacity back to close to 80% of 2019 levels in just a few months.

“Despite meticulous planning and projecting, participants involved in the air transport system are facing significant pressure in restarting. We continue to work together to restore the travel experience to expectations and are encouraged by recent improvements."

Compared to pre-pandemic levels, 2022 second quarter advance ticket sales reached 94% of those in the same quarter of 2019. Operating capacity, measured by available seat miles, was 73% of the same quarter in 2019. Despite the lower capacity, passenger revenues were 80% of those generated in the second quarter of 2019, driven by higher yields.

In the second quarter of 2022, AC filled 80.5% of its seats, representing a significant improvement from the second quarter of 2021 levels but still down about four percentage points from the second quarter of 2019.

Rousseau says Air Canada did its best to anticipate the obstacles to recovery.

"We expected travel would rebound significantly once restrictions were lifted and prepared accordingly. We entered the peak summer travel period at close to 90% of our pre-pandemic staffing levels, while prudently planning to operate approximately 80% of our pre-pandemic schedule over that period.”

Rousseau noted the difficulties faced by many customers.

“We acknowledge the inconveniences and disruptions some of our customers have faced, and we deeply regret this. This is not business as usual for us. We thank our customers for their understanding and the loyalty they are showing to Air Canada in these unprecedented times.”