MONTREAL — Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau says the airline is seeing good booking momentum in the fourth quarter and early positive indicators into the first quarter of 2026.
Rousseau made the comments as the airline reported its third-quarter results which included a crippling strike by more than 10,000 flight attendants in August that brought a halt to operations and caused more than 3,000 flight cancellations.
He added that the airline’s transborder business trends are largely stable and on par with the first half of 2025.
Air Canada reported Tuesday a profit of $264 million or 88 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from a profit of $2.04 billion or $5.38 per diluted share during the same period a year earlier.
The Montreal-based airline says operating revenue totalled $5.77 billion, down from $6.11 billion during the third quarter last year.
“We delivered a solid third quarter financial and operating performance, after adjusting for the labour disruption, which occurred at the peak of the summer season. We deeply regret that the disruption significantly affected our customers,” said Rousseau. “The entire company worked extremely hard to assist those whose travel was disrupted and to quickly return our operations to normal, and we were also flexible with customer goodwill policies. I thank all employees for their commitment to customer service and operational excellence.”
Rousseau added that Air Canada’s Q3 financial results, after adjusting for the strike impact, “met our expectations, with strength in the Atlantic market and in our premium cabins. Operational metrics, such as on-time performance and net promoter score, exceeded both internal targets and last year’s levels for the quarter and year-to-date. Our underlying business fundamentals are very strong.”
Rousseau said Air Canada has “exciting times ahead of us” with growth plans fuelled by key strategic initiatives and new state-of-the-art efficient aircraft.
“Our focus over the next 12 months is on preparing the airline to grow and expand margins as we transform our fleet with the arrival of best-in-class aircraft across the portfolio and a revitalized Rouge offering. We will also continue to improve our cost structure through productivity gains, operational efficiencies and constant cost discipline to mitigate near term pressures.”