Guest WA777 Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Yikes!....does he really know what he is doing...? http://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030807.wbaircan0807/BNStory/Business/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagger Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 What were you expecting for the three-month period in which the entire SARS crisis occured and CCAA was declared and there was uncertainty about Air Canada's ability to restructure its labor and creditor agreements? I know a lot of Canadians, let alone foreigners, who weren't travelling to Canada or within Canada, and if they were, they were booking other airlines because it wasn't as obvious then as it is now that Air Canada will successfully restructure. Asia was wracked by SARS so there was no Asia outbound business to Canada - and none to Asia from Canada. Remember in April and May the cancelled conventions in Toronto, the major corporations forbidding employees to travel to Toronto, the WHO and CDC travel advisories? Really, what did you expect? A $100 million profit? If you want to know the answer to the question you posed in your header, you will have to wait and see how Air Canada performs as the airline and the country work through, and ultimately shake off all of the effects of SARS in particular. A year from now, we will have a better idea of the answer to your question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 "A year from now, we will have a better idea of the answer to your question." dagger, this is still a daily loss that is in excess of 5 million/day, will AC be around a year from now to see this? I would bet that this number has caught a lot of people off guard (on this forum anyway, me for sure). There is still a fundamental problem when a loss of this size is made. Can't say I know the answer though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagger Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 The news release says the loss in June was down to $400,000 a day. The loss today is probably less by at least half. The airline still hasn't drawn on its GECAS DIP financing. The wage and creditor concessions are only now taking effect, as are voluntary and involuntary layoff programs. Again, I am stunned with your comment as I am with WA777's original comment, as if the past quarter was business as usual. Have we forgotten what the world was like in April? Most of this relates to April and May. There is no longer a SARS crisis, just the after-effects. In April and May, traffic on Asia routes was down 60 percent. That's obviously not the case today and will never be again unless we have another SARS-like crisis. I know this loss number fans' a Westjetter's hopes, but did you seriously expect something radically less? I'm sure in April Air Canada was losing MORE than $5 million a day because international traffic stopped abruptly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Say Altitude Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Farm out services that aren't part of an airlines "core" business and reduce the # of employees per aircraft in the fleet. Not the panacea of wisdom to magically turn things around, but it's a start. I don't think that anyone would disagree that load factors are at reasonable levels, it's the overhead that's the issue. A simple answer to a complex problem...... My two cents...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WA777 Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Dagger...I certainly expected a loss...but nothing on the scale of 500M ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jeanmermoz Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Ask Cathay how they felt about the SRAS episode...From around 60000 pax/day (if memory serves well) to about 8000/day during the SRAS crisis. So AC is not alone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Come on dagger, I'm reminded of the movie "The life of Brian" when they are all on the crosses singing "always look at the bright side of life"!! What loss could AC have published that would have surprised you? I realise SARS, 9/11, death of business travel, Asian flu, etc. have an effect but companies have to find ways to compensate or at least minimise these kinds of problems. Remember before all of these AC was profitable but really only marginally, agreed? This airlines problems are systemic which are greatly exacerbated in times of distress. Again, just my opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagger Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Yes, SARS was easy to anticipate. It gave the world plenty of lead time to downsize. The Chinese were forthcoming, they put out bulletins back in November advising health care professionals to be on the lookout for SARS. Health care institutions had special SARS containment procedures up and running months before the first case made it to Hong Kong. But oh Air Canada - and Cathay and China Southern and other airlines in Asia - really shouldn't be reporting SARS related losses at all. Just be glad that you didn't have two-thirds of your operations at WJ in the international arena. It's that two-thirds that got whacked badly. Maybe if Mad Cow had been in Toronto and SARS had been in Calgary, your results might have been a little different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest floatrr Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 $400,000 operating loss from $5M is a pretty good start. Now lets see... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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