CBC

Thu Feb 1, 8:50 am

Fuel prices lead to losses for Air Canada

Canada's top airline is blaming fuel prices for losses in fiscal 2000. Air Canada has announced $275 million in fourth quarter losses, leading to a significant loss on the year. The carrier has been left $82 million in the hole in 2000. It says that the skyrocketing price of fuel cost it $233 million over the 12 months and $71 million over the past three months of its fiscal year. Air Canada has been preparing for tough times. In December, the airline announced 3,500 job cuts over the next year. CEO Robert Milton says his company is also cutting seat capacity and selling planes to deal with the gas prices and overall economic downturn.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), February 01, 2001