"The recovery in travel, already very real in the third quarter, accelerated in the fourth,” stated Annick Guérard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Transat, in a release about the company’s fourth quarter results ending at 31OCT, 2022.
“This shows that people still want to travel and travel spending is a priority for them, even amid an economic slowdown and rising inflation.”
Transat ended its fiscal 2022 with what it calls an “encouraging outlook.”
During the company’s fourth quarter, it noted it responded to high demand for both European and sun destinations, resulting in improved load factors.
“Several indicators show that we're also well set for the winter season,” Guérard added. “The pace of reservations is currently equivalent to that of 2019. Strong demand is driving up prices, which is helping us to deal with higher costs. As a result, Transat ended fiscal 2022 with solid momentum and a significant decrease in its adjusted operating loss. If the trend continues, the outlook for 2023 is encouraging.”
In Q4, Transat:
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generated $573.1 million in revenues, up a whopping $510.4 million from $62.8 million for the corresponding period of 2021;
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experienced 91 per cent of 2019’s capacity;
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still experienced an operating loss of $48.8 million, which was an improvement of $69.5 million compared with the $118.3 million loss in the same period in 2021. Transat says fuel prices and the U.S. - Canadian dollar exchange rate hampered further improvement of its operating losses; however
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its adjusted operating loss was $11.5 million, an improvement of $46.8 million, compared with $58.4 million in 2021.
The fourth quarter results helped boost Transat’s entire year, which was dampened by the Omicron variant in early 2022, resulting in a “sharp decline” in demand, and massive cancellations as a result of federal government restrictions during that time.
For this fiscal year as a whole, Transat saw:
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revenues of $1,642.0 million for the year, an increase of $1,517.2 million, compared with 2021.
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an operating loss of $303.4 million, an improvement of $97.8 million compared with $401.2 million in 2021; and
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an adjusted operating loss1 of $156.8 million, an improvement of $57.1 million compared with $213.9 million in 2021.
At the end of its fourth quarter, Transat held customer deposits for future travel stood of $602.5 million, up 7 per cent from pre-pandemic levels at the same time, reflecting “the recovery in demand and higher average selling prices,” the company said.
Other key moves over the past year
2022 saw Transat launch a strategic new codeshare partnership with Porter Airlines, in addition to one with WestJet “and the 10 active virtual interlining partnerships, bringing the total number of destinations now available via the Corporation's bookings to more than 300.”
The company continues its fleet renewal, with a NOV order for two new A321LRs, plus that for four A321XLRs announced in its third quarter.
Looking Ahead
Transat says it’s expecting to reach 90 per cent of 2019 capacity levels in 2023 as a whole.
Winter 2023 load factors are already “comparable” to 2019 levels, and airline unit revenues are 15 per cent higher than in winter 2019, which Transat says will help it manage current higher costs.
See Transat's full Q4 statement here.
