Its business is only a fraction of what it was six months ago but Chorus Aviation, which operates Jazz, says it’s weathering the storm and even turned a small profit in the second quarter of 2020. The company reported adjusted earnings of about $22 million during the period. “The team has dramatically reduced costs, curtailed capital investment and raised new funding. With $228 million in liquidity, we are well positioned to manage through an extended recovery period and to participate in the growth of the aviation industry in the future,” said Joe Randell, President and Chief Executive Officer, Chorus. Jazz is only flying about nine percent of the schedule it did before the pandemic but it also has lease aircraft and other businesses that contribute revenue.
Randell said that while the company is on firm footing, it’s looking forward to flying more. “Regional aviation is generally resuming flying earlier and at a quicker pace than long-haul travel. For example, in the second quarter our Air Canada Express operation flew approximately nine percent of the block hours flown in the same period last year; however, we expect this to increase to be between 20 percent and 30 percent for the balance of this year compared to 2019,” Randell said. “Approximately 50 percent of our third-party leased fleet is now flying with the number of flight hours up from the low points of this past spring.”