Air Canada posts third straight quarterly loss as virus hits sales

(Reuters) – Air Canada posted its third straight quarterly loss on Monday, as the COVID-19 pandemic crippled air travel forcing Canada’s biggest airline to cut the majority of its flights.

International air travel remains severely affected around the globe because of border restrictions by many countries.

As a result, carriers including Air Canada have cut thousands of jobs to save costs and sought government aid to keep operations afloat.

Air Canada said third-quarter net cash burn slowed to C$9 million per day on average, compared with about C$19 million per day in the second quarter.

The airline forecast cash burn of between C$12 million and C$14 million per day on average for the current quarter.

Air Canada reported a loss of C$685 million ($526 million), or C$2.31 per share, for the third quarter, compared with a profit of C$636 million, or C$2.35 per share, a year earlier.

Operating revenue plunged about 86% to C$757 million, but the decline slowed from 89% in the second quarter.

Analysts on average had expected Air Canada to lose C$2.60 per share in the third quarter on revenue $1.06 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)