Carlos Osorio/REUTERS
Air Canada is turning to loyalty-program promotions as Donald Trump’s policies have led to a decline in traffic.
On Monday morning, the airline’s customers in the UK received an email offering triple the number of Aeroplan reward points for flights to Canada and the US.
The promotion, which began a week earlier, is applicable to flights through December 15, as long as they’re booked by the end of May.
It comes after Canada’s flag carrier reported reduced traffic figures in its first-quarter earnings last Thursday.
“We did experience some turbulence in the first quarter, however, we managed all of it very effectively,” CEO Michael Rousseau said in the earnings call.
Passenger revenues on transatlantic flights were down 3.7% since the same period last year. The company said this was mostly because Easter fell in the second quarter, while some capacity was also redeployed toward the Middle East and India.
Europeans have shown less interest in flying to the US since Trump took power, but Canada could prove to be an alternative destination.
Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin previously told Bloomberg that European customers ditching the US were instead choosing to travel to Canada, South America, and Egypt.
Air Canada may also be looking to attract more European customers to make up for its suffering transborder business. The points promotion also applies to flights via Canada that end in the US.
Russo said bookings for flights between the two countries have declined by percentages in the low teens on average over the next six months.
The company cited a weaker currency exchange rate for Canadians and “uncertainty relating to the imposition of US tariffs and related countermeasures.”
Operating revenues of 5.2 billion Canadian dollars, or around $3.7 billion, were down 1% from last year, and the airline lowered its profit forecast.
However, losses per share of 0.45 Canadian dollars, roughly $0.32, weren’t as bad as expected, and the airline also announced plans for a share buyback, which saw its stock price rise nearly 15% on Friday.
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