Company Watch - Air Canada

AirGuide Business, Jan 14, 2008

Jan 14, 2008

Air Canada Flight 190, an Airbus A319 en route from Victoria to Toronto, was diverted to Calgary yesterday for an emergency landing following what was described as extreme turbulence that caused 10 passengers to sustain what the airline termed "non-life-threatening injuries." Emergency personnel met the aircraft following a smooth landing in Calgary and transported 10 of the 83 passengers to a local hospital. There were five crew onboard. Air Canada said it was investigating an "incident" that created a "very stressful experience" for passengers and crew. Passengers reported that there was a sudden big whoomph and bump, bump," followed by the plane lurching around violently, first swerving back and forth starting with a dramatic roll to the left that resulted in the wing pointing directly at the ground, and then going into a dive. People were screaming and tumbling about the cabin. Some passengers and food carts slammed into the ceiling. Jan 11, 2008

Air Canada Boosts Traffic Numbers In 2007. Air Canada's planes flew fuller in December and for all of 2007 as it benefited from a strong domestic economy in the face of a downturn in the US industry. Air Canada said its mainline load factor, the proportion of aircraft seats filled by passengers, rose half a percentage point to 78.8 percent in December from a year earlier. Its capacity for the month rose 1.6 percent to 4.5 million available seat miles and revenue passenger miles jumped 2.3 percent to 3.6 billion. The Montreal-based airline's load factor for all of 2007 rose 0.2 points to 81 percent, it said. Jan 8, 2008

Air Canada Chief Executive Montie Brewer said in a statement he was particularly pleased with the carrier's domestic business and pointed out that its system-wide traffic is outpacing capacity growth as it adds new Boeing 777 and Embraer aircraft. Jan 8, 2008

Air Canada Jazz, Canada's regional carrier, reported a 72.4 percent load factor for December, up 0.9 percentage points from the same month in 2006, as capacity increased 2.5 percent to 442 million available seat miles. Revenue passenger miles totaled 320 million, up 3.8 percent from December 2006. Full-year load factor at Jazz rose 2 percentage points to 72.3 percent, it said. Jan 8, 2008

ACE Aviation Buys Back Half Its Stock. ACE Aviation Holdings said on Friday Jan. 11 it bought back about half its stock for CAD$30 a share as part of a modified Dutch auction that advances the windup of Air Canada's parent company. That was at the high end of the range it had set. ACE said it bought 40 million of its class A shares and nearly 10 million class B shares in the CAD$1.5 billion (USD$1.47 billion) auction, announced last month. No convertible preferred shares were deposited under the offer on a converted basis, the company said. Jan 11, 2008

ACE Aviation Holdings, which was created as part of Air Canada's emergence from bankruptcy protection in late 2004, said late last year it had CAD$1.85 billion in cash it wanted to return to investors. Executives have said they plan to wind up the holding company early this year. ACE A shares were up 64 Canadian cents at CAD$28.64 on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the B shares rose 35 Canadian cents to CAD$28.81. Besides its 75 percent interest in Air Canada, ACE owns 20.1 percent each of regional carrier Jazz Air and frequent flier program Aeroplan, and 23 percent of aircraft maintenance firm ACTS. Jan 11, 2008

Ground radar reportedly showed the Airbus aircraft bouncing up and down between various altitudes about 20 minutes after takeoff. After the 10- or 15-second crisis was over, a voice came on the airplane s intercom and reported a "computer malfunction" and that the plane was now being flown manually. Air Canada warned against "speculation" and noted that most of the uninjured passengers were put on Calgary-Toronto flights later in the day. Jan 11, 2008

Ten Hurt After Air Canada Plane Hits Turbulence. All 10 passengers injured when an Air Canada flight hit turbulence over the Rocky Mountains on Thursday are in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries, the Calgary Health Region said. Flight AC190, an Airbus A319 with 83 passengers and 5 crew aboard, was en route to Toronto from Victoria, British Columbia, when the plane jolted violently over the Rocky Mountains, throwing some passengers out of their seats. The 10 patients taken to Calgary hospitals after the flight made an emergency landing here are recovering, according to Rob Abernethy, associate chief medical officer for the health region. One was set to be discharged, he said. "It happened very fast," a female passenger in the plane's front cabin told CBC Television. The Air Canada plane made an unscheduled landing at 8:30 a.m. local time at Calgary Airport, where it was met by 11 ambulances and more than 20 firefighting vehicles that had rushed to the tarmac. An emergency medical services spokesman said six injured passengers were taken from the plane on stretchers. Jan 10, 2008

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