Air Canada says that due to its improved liquidity position and ongoing recovery from the pandemic it is withdrawing from further federal government financial support. The support package, announced in April 2021, provided the carrier access to interest bearing loans of $5.375 billion through several separate credit facilities.

The airline says that to date, it has only accessed the facility for the sole purpose of refunding customers’ non-refundable tickets, while all other remaining facilities totaling $3.975 billion have not been used.

“Air Canada’s recovery from COVID-19 continues,” said Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are recalling employees, adding new routes and frequencies to our network, and restoring services, and, last quarter, we completed a $7.1-billion financing.

“Today, in another convincing sign of our progress, we are announcing our withdrawal from the major funding provisions of our support agreement with the Government of Canada for the $3.975 billion in facilities that were never accessed and remain unused.”

“We deeply appreciate the Government of Canada’s support as this helped maintain a level playing field at a time when governments around the world, recognizing the importance of air travel to their economies, were also assisting their national carriers in the face of the unprecedented downturn caused by COVID-19.” He said.

“In addition to helping preserve thousands of jobs and travel choice for Canadians, the assistance offered to Air Canada importantly served as an extra level of insurance that enabled us to raise additional liquidity on our own to manage the pandemic and give us sufficient resources to effectively compete in the post-pandemic marketplace.”