Which Aircraft is Leaving Air Canada with Immediate Effect?

In a bid to reduce its costs, Air Canada is accelerating the retirement of 79 older aircraft from its fleet including the Boeing 767, Airbus A319 and Embraer E190, with the latter exiting immediately. The decision comes as the flag carrier revealed a C$1bn (£599m) net loss for the first quarter, compared to a C$345m (£197m) profit for the same period last year.

The Montreal-based firm holds a fleet comprising 14 of the Brazilian-built narrowbody along with five 767s and 13 A319 examples. The company did not specify where the remaining 47 retirements will come from, however it is expected they will be in the form of aging A320 examples.

In its results statement, the company said the move will “simplify the airline’s overall fleet, reduce its cost structure, and lower its carbon footprint.”

Air Canada E190
Air Canada accepted its first E190 in July 2007 and took delivery of its last in February 2008. Wiki Commons/BriYYZ

Calin Rovinescu, president and chief executive officer of Air Canada commented: “The past quarter was the first in 27 consecutive quarters that we did not report year-over-year operating revenue growth. Our solid January and February results gave us every encouragement that this performance would continue until the sudden and catastrophic impact of COVID-19’s onset in Europe and North America in early March. We are now living through the darkest period ever in the history of commercial aviation.”

Speaking about the post-coronavirus outlook, Rovinescu added: “It is our current expectation that it will take at least three years to recover to 2019 levels of revenue and capacity. We expect that both the overall industry and our airline will be considerably smaller for some time, which will unfortunately result in significant reductions in both fleet and employee levels.”

In response to the reduction in air travel as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Air Canada has cut its second quarter capacity by 85-90% when compared to 2019 levels and expects to reduce its third quarter by approximately 75%. The airline will continue to monitor the situation and adjust its position accordingly.

Air Canada A319
The airline's 13 Airbus A319s are also on the list for early retirement. Unlike their Brazilian counterpart, the European narrowbody will not be phased out immediately. Wiki Commons/BriYYZ