Air Canada (AC, Montréal Trudeau) has cancelled orders for eleven B737-8s, reducing its outstanding order book for the type from 37 to 26 units, and is now evaluating the A321-200neo(LR) as an alternative, Chief Financial Officer Michael Rousseau said during the Wolfe Research Global Transportation & Industrials Virtual Conference.
"We trimmed 11 [B737 MAX] from our order of 61, we went to 50. We have some optionality at some other aircraft which we might look at in the middle of the decade... It was a fleet decision independent of the coronavirus pandemic,' Rousseau said.
Rousseau underlined that the 11 cancelled aircraft were due to deliver in the mid-2020s.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Air Canada took deliveries of twenty-four B737 MAX 8s before the type's grounding in March 2019. Out of the outstanding 26 units, 12 have already been built and are ready for delivery shortly after the recertification.
"We still like the aircraft, we think it's very, very good for Air Canada and for North American markets, which we think will come back first [after the pandemic]," Rousseau said.
He added that Air Canada was evaluating other fleet additions going forward, specifically the A321neo.
"We like the A321. We like the A321neo(LR) more than the A321neo itself at this point in time. But we will see how the market evolves. We have a couple of A321s right now, and they're good for us," he said.
While the airline operates a substantial fleet of A320ceo Family aircraft - thirty-eight A319-100s, forty-one A320-200s, and twenty-nine A321-200s (including aircraft operated by Air Canada rouge) - it neither operates nor has orders for any A320neo Family units.
