Air Canada’s (TSX:AC) cargo revenue fell by 18.4% during the third quarter on weakness from the Atlantic and Pacific markets.
Canada’s largest carrier reported on Oct. 29 that it generated C$177 million (a Canadian dollar equals US$0.76) in cargo revenue compared to C$218 million in the third quarter of 2018. Cargo yield declined by 11.5%, while traffic dropped by 8%.
The cargo declines happened as the airline’s overall profits plunged on the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX. Air Canada’s adjusted net income dropped by 9.9% to C$636 million on a record C$5.5 billion of revenue.
“Impressive as such strong results are on their own, they are even more meaningful given that we achieved them despite the serious disruption to our operations and to our cost structure created by the Boeing 737 MAX grounding,” Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu said in a statement.
The airline cargo business saw the biggest decline in Pacific revenue, falling by 32.6% to C$61 million. Atlantic revenue declined by 20.5% to C$60 million.
Air Canada blamed the declines on “ongoing global trade disputes.”
The airline had stronger cargo revenues in its Canadian and U.S. transborder business. Canadian revenue increased by 21.5% to C$31 million, while transporter rose by 9.9% to C$12 million.
