Airlines Canada

Air Canada only emerged from its last round of bankruptcy protection in 2004. But the economic crisis has hammered most international carriers as traffic has dropped, forcing them to cut routes, reduce capacity and lay off employees.

Air Canada last year cut 2,000 jobs and reduced capacity by 7 percent and has made more cuts since.

Chief Executive Montie Brewer said on Friday -- as Air Canada announced an unexpectedly large loss of CAD$727 million for the fourth quarter of last year -- that the airline would seek to reduce costs by another CAD$100 million and shave capacity by a further 3.5 percent.

The company said on Friday it has shored up its balance sheet with CAD$641 million in new financing, but warned that the recession may put more pressure on its revenue in 2009. Air Canada said it has up to CAD$1 billion of assets it could use to increase its liquidity if needed.

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Air Canada

Air Canada, the country's biggest airline, could be forced to file for bankruptcy protection if it does not secure additional financing and succeed in renegotiating covenants in credit card agreements, UBS analyst Fadi Chamoun said.

"Notwithstanding lower fuel costs, we believe that cash from operations will be insufficient to meet rising pension funding obligations and over CAD$1 billion (USD$800 million) of debt repayment over the next two years," Chamoun said in a note dated February 13.

Covenants in credit card agreements could tighten further in the second quarter and result in the airline being required to maintain higher cash deposits, said Chamoun, who cut his target price for its shares to CAD$1 from CAD$1.50.

"In the absence of additional financing (sale of assets) and renegotiation of covenants in credit card agreements, Air Canada could be forced to file for bankruptcy in our opinion," he wrote.

Air Canada spokeswoman Angela Mah declined to comment on the UBS report.

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Asia Holiday Travel Inc offering Tours to China

Asia Holiday Travel Inc offering Tours to China is an associated member of China International Travel Service, Hebei, the People's Republic of China founded in 1973. We are based in San Francisco, the departure point for our tours. Throughout our history, we have been focusing on those destinations we know best and successfully offering varieties of package tours to China, Hong Kong and other Asian countries for more than 20 years. We have sister-offices located in many parts of China. This unique resource and many years of experience are the guarantee of your Trouble-Free travel arrangements and high quality tours that no other agency has been able to match.

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Air Canada

Air Canada is Canada’s largest full-service airline and the largest provider of scheduled passenger services in the Canadian market, the Canada-U.S. transborder market and in the international market to and from Canada. Together with its regional affiliate Jazz, Air Canada serves over 29 million customers annually and provides direct passenger service to over 174 destinations on five continents. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance™, providing the world's most comprehensive air transportation network.

Air Canada has an extensive global network, with hubs in four major Canadian cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary), providing scheduled passenger jet service directly to 67 Canadian cities, 53 destinations in the United States and 56 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Air Canada and its regional affiliate Jazz operate 1,354 scheduled flights each day on average. Through its strategic and commercial arrangements with Star Alliance™ , Air Canada offers service to over 855 destinations in 155 countries and provides top tier frequent flyer benefits.

Air Canada was ranked ‘Best Airline in North America’ in the world’s largest survey of air travelers conducted by the independent UK-based research firm Skytrax between August 2006 and June 2007. Air Transport World magazine awarded Air Canada the prestigious Airline Industry Achievement Award in 2007 for Market Leadership. Air Canada was voted ‘Best Airline in North America’ and ‘Best Airline in Canada’ by readers of the U.S. magazine, Global Traveler, and was voted ‘Best Business Class to Canada’ by readers of the U.S magazine, Business Traveler. EnRoute magazine received the award for Best Travel Magazine at the 2007 North American Travel Journalists’ Association Awards.

Air Canada's predecessor, Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) inaugurated its first flight on September 1, 1937. By 1964, TCA had grown to become Canada's national airline; it changed its name to Air Canada. The airline became fully privatized in 1989. In 2000, Air Canada acquired Canadian Airlines International. Today, as it celebrates its 70th anniversary, Air Canada is the 14th largest commercial airline in the world, with approximately 23,000 full-time equivalent employees. Air Canada shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol “AC-B.TO”.

In 2007, Air Canada added 11 new non-stop international routes, including the launch of Vancouver-Sydney on December 14th using one of Air Canada’s eight brand-new Boeing 777 aircraft.

Facts & Figures

• Number of aircraft: 335
• Aircraft types: B777-300, B777-200, B767-200, Boeing 767-300, A340-300, A330-300, A321-200, A320-200, A319-100, Embraer 190 and Embraer 175
• Hubs: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary
• Number of employees: 27,619
• Passengers per year: Over 29,000,000
• Sales revenue: US$ 7.394 billion (as of 2006)
• Frequent flyer programme: Aeroplan
• Number of destinations: about 174
• Network strengths: Canada, U.S. and the Caribbean
• Date of entry: May 1997

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