booking templates were restored shortly after the outage due to
which grounded the airline's operations in August, company executives say.
The airline said strong sales momentum allows it to deliver “solid results” in the fourth quarter, which it expects to surpass last year's fourth quarter.
“Demand has been strong despite the impact of the outage,” Air Canada chief commercial officer Mark Galardo said Nov. 5 during the company's earnings call.
CEO Michael Russo said Air Canada shut down and reopened in record time in response to staff disruptions.
He also said the carrier's voluntary goodwill policy, which has received more than 150,000 customer claims to date, is expected to end in the coming weeks.
“We are encouraged by the speed of the booking structure recovery and the strength that has followed,” Russo said.
Negotiations with airport staff, contact centers and maintenance facilities will also begin in the near future, the CEO added.
The company again updated its 2025 guidance to reflect the financial impact of the crisis.
which led to a decrease in income.
Third-quarter earnings results were released Tuesday and were largely in line with preliminary results reported Sept. 24, reflecting the impact of the strike.
The outages are estimated to have cost the company $375 million in operating income and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). It attributed the strike to a five percent decline in operating income compared to last year.
The airline said the costs included an estimated $430 million impact on revenue, largely due to customer refunds and compensation, as well as lower-than-expected travel bookings in August and early September.
It also included $145 million in costs estimated to have been avoided by reducing flights during the disruption, largely due to lower fuel costs.
Cost savings were partially offset by approximately $90 million in additional costs associated with reimbursing customers for out-of-pocket expenses and labor-related operating expenses.
Air Canada's total operating expenses increased eight per cent from last year, primarily driven by $173 million from one-time pension plan amendments and other labor-related expenses.
Despite this, the airline said its third-quarter results were still in line with expectations after adjusting for the strike, which occurred during the peak summer season.
Based on guidance, the company now expects 2025 adjusted EBIDTA to be between $2.95 billion and $3.05 billion, slightly higher than September's guidance of $2.9 billion to $3.1 billion but still below the initial guidance provided in May of $3.2 billion to $3.6 billion adjusted EBITDA.
Air Canada now projects capacity growth of nearly 0.75 per cent over 2024, down from the one to three per cent growth it expected back in May.
Its 2025 free cash flow guidance was updated to $0 million to $200 million, up from the September update of -$50 million to $150 million. The initial free cash flow forecast announced in May was +/- $200 million.
“Overall, we are encouraged by the trends in the fourth quarter and what we're seeing heading into 2026, although we expect a slight decline in revenue in the fourth quarter, adjusted for the disruption in the third quarter,” Galardo said. “This is a consistent improvement throughout the year.”
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