Air Canada is poised to raise fares as it looks to offset the hit from higher fuel costs, sagging business travel and soaring inflation.

Air Canada is poised to raise fares as it looks to offset the hit from higher fuel costs, sagging business travel and soaring inflation.

The country’s largest carrier more than tripled its revenues last quarter as demand for travel revved up, though a net loss of nearly $1 billion signaled the pandemic recovery is far from complete.

After the Omicron variant of COVID-19 slowed bookings in January, Air Canada’s sales spiked in March as travel restrictions eased, pushing bookings to 90 per cent of 2019 levels.

The airline maintained full-year forecasts that available seat capacity will average out at roughly three-quarters of what it was in 2019. A similar figure is expected for the current quarter, which would be five times the capacity of a year earlier.

However, Air Canada’s capacity continues to lag its U.S. counterparts and business travel remains at half the volume it hit three years ago.