Reluctant to fly during the early stages of health easing, baby boomers are flying again in large numbers this year, says Air Transat President and CEO Annick Guérard. who welcomes this return as an important step in the resumption of air transport.
“Our data shows that people aged 55 and over have returned to their pre-pandemic travel habits during the first half of the year, describes the leader during a conference call with analysts. This was not the case in 2022, when baby boomers were less inclined to travel than before the pandemic. »
Mme Guérard sees this as another “very positive” sign of the resilience of the airline industry’s recovery, despite an uncertain economic environment. “This is an important segment for us, and is expected to be more resilient than younger consumers in an environment of high inflation and higher prices. ” ” They [les baby-boomers] have large sums of money available for discretionary spending and have time to travel and spend, she adds. They generally spend between 15% and 20% more on average than the average clientele. »
Reservations point to a “dynamic” summer, said the manager. She also indicated that the trend in reservations for next winter did not show signs of slowing down for the moment. “Demand is holding up despite higher prices and inflation. »
Moreover, customer deposits for future trips reached $867.1 million as of April 30. This is a 38% increase compared to the same period in 2019, which was before the pandemic.
The strength of the recovery remains a crucial element for Transat, whose financial position has been weakened by the pandemic. For now, the trend is pointing in the right direction, said analyst Tim James of TD Securities. “We believe that the results of the second quarter will be a short-term catalyst for the action, supports the analyst. They support the idea that Transat could eventually reduce its debt to a viable level and that it would be able to generate long-term earnings growth that would support its action. »
During the conference call, the company’s chief financial officer, Patrick Bui, mentioned that the improvement in the company’s quarterly results indicated that the company was on the right track to generate cash which will be used to repay debt. . Steps to sell land in Mexico are also “well advanced”. “We also believe there are opportunities to improve our balance sheet by refinancing our debt [à de meilleures conditions]. »
The Montreal company posted a net loss of $29.2 million in the second quarter ended April 30. The loss amounted to 98.3 million in the same period last year. The diluted adjusted loss per share was 21 cents. Revenues, for their part, climbed $358.2 million to $870.1 million.
Prior to the earnings release, analysts had expected a loss of 66 cents per share, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.