Air Canada Part 1: low cost rouge is a pillar of growth; but further expansion might be constrained

During the past year Air Canada has found itself defending its double-digit capacity growth, stressing that 90% of its capacity in 2015, 2016 and 2017 is being deployed to its international network - an entity the company believes is far from reaching maturity. Recently the airline has outlined plans to introduce a raft of new long haul flights to Europe and Asia operated by Air Canada mainline and its low cost arm - Air Canada rouge.

Air Canada stresses the pillars of its international expansion - Boeing 787 widebodies and the establishment of its low cost subsidiary rouge - enable the company to enter international markets it once considered unviable due to higher costs. During the summer of 2018 rouge will nearly reach its 50 aircraft cap, and Air Canada needs to start determining if there are further opportunities to grow its low cost unit. Those evaluations will partially dictate Air Canada's overall growth levels beyond 2018.

In the short term Air Canada is not seeing any broad changes in consumer behaviour, reflected in its solid booking curves. Weaker markets in Western Canada, hit by the downturn in the oil sector, are stabilising as capacity cuts have resulted in a rational supply-demand scenario.

This is Part 1 in a two part series on Air Canada. The second instalment will focus on the airline's costs and balance sheet management.