I assumming I'm the first to post this one or not.

Air Canada third-quarter profit falls 62%
Monday November 13, 2006
Falling operating income and a C$102 million ($90.2 million) noncash pre-tax charge related to the redemption of Aeroplan miles issued before 2002 weighed heavily on ACE Aviation's bottom line as the Air Canada parent reported a third-quarter profit of C$103 million, down 62% from C$271 million earned in the year-ago period.

Chairman, President and CEO Robert Milton called the result "solid" and said the quarter featured "continued progress achieved in the implementation of ACE's business strategy" of spinning off its various subsidiaries.

Operating revenues climbed 4% to C$2.95 billion against a 5.2% increase in expenses to C$2.64 billion. ACE booked the Aeroplan charge as an operating expense, which helped drive down its operating profit 36.8% to C$203 million from the C$321 million earned in the third quarter of 2005. A C$52 million gain realized as part of its sale of US Airways stock helped boost the bottom line. The company also reported a C$100 million gain on the disposal of US shares in the second quarter.

On the subsidiary level, Air Canada Services reported quarterly operating income of C$130 million, down 52.2% compared to the year-ago quarter. Aeroplan had operating income of C$33 million, up 57.1%; Air Canada Jazz earned C$39 million, up 2.6%, and Air Canada Technical Services' operating profit plunged 66.7% to C$5 million.

AC and Jazz flew a consolidated 14.35 billion RPMs during the quarter, an increase of 2.6% over the year-ago quarter. Capacity climbed 3.3% to 17.53 billion ASMs as ACE added 26 aircraft to its fleet, dropping load factor 0.6 point to 81.8%. Passenger yield was up 1.1% to C17.8 cents and operating RASM increased 0.5% to C16.8 cents. Unit costs rose 2% to C15.1 cents, but fell 0.9% to C10.7 cents excluding fuel.

ACE's nine-month profit of C$457 million represented a 25.9% gain over the C$363 million earned in the year-ago period. Its operating profit fell 34.2% to C$322 million.