CEO Interview
Driving sustainability Michael Rousseau, President and CEO, Air Canada, says Canadian aviation regulations must change and starting afresh will drive sustainability forward WORDS: GRAHAM NEWTON
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aking over the role of CEO at Air Canada during the pandemic shows how positive Michael Rousseau is about the future outlook of the airline and the global industry, and is working with the Canadian government to put strategies in place to ensure the industry can return safely post-pandemic and rebuild.
What are your immediate priorities?
Although we are optimistic that the worst of COVID-19 is behind us in Canada, as with the disease itself the after-effects on our industry will persist and need to be dealt with. Most immediately, we are focused on working with the government on a plan for safely reopening our country. Canada put in place some of the strictest travel and quarantine rules in the world which, for a global carrier like Air Canada, were especially harmful. The plan should include clear metrics and requirements for each stage, not only for us to plan but also so that our customers, who we know are eager to travel, can book with confidence. This will also allow us to expand our network and, very importantly, start recalling employees, who have made tremendous sacrifices. Additionally, we are focused on minimizing our cash losses to ensure we take on as little incremental debt as possible, allowing us to recover quicker and make the necessary future investments to remain competitive and meet all of our long-term goals. Airlines 2021 – 02
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What does the financial agreement with the government and the customer refunds mean for the carrier’s financial position?
We entered the pandemic with one of the industry’s strongest balance sheets relative to our size. We had nearly C$7 billion (US$5.8bn) in unrestricted liquidity and, subsequently, we raised an additional C$6.8 billion on our own. Though our financial position was strong, the depth and severity of the pandemic exceeded even the most pessimistic scenarios. And there was ongoing uncertainty as to the future direction and duration of this crisis. As a result, we felt it was only prudent to take advantage of the Canadian government’s large corporation support program to obtain repayable airlines.iata.org
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