BRIAN DUNN / MONTREAL
Air Canada is grounding 40 aircraft, dropping 12 routes and slashing capacity this summer, largely because of the SARS scare which cost it almost C$5 million ($3.6 million) a day in revenue during April.
The airline warns that the next two quarters will be the weakest in its history. Even though the World Health Organisation has lifted its travel advisory for Toronto, Air Canada says traffic is down by about 60% on Asian routes and it has not seen "a discernible traffic recovery", with May, June and July bookings falling by up to 25% from a year ago. That has forced the carrier to cut capacity by 17%, with services to some destinations cut indefinitely.
"SARS will clearly have a sustained impact in every affected area of the world and has already had a ruinous effect on our summer," says Air Canada chief executive Robert Milton.
Air Canada operates a fleet of 336 aircraft and the types to be grounded are yet to be determined. The carrier is discontinuing its Toronto-Tokyo/Narita service and Vancouver-Nagoya service for a year. Capacity to the USA will drop 25%, with route cuts including Toronto-New Orleans and Calgary-Chicago during the summer and services to Dayton, Ohio, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, suspended indefinitely.
Source: Flight International
