Cargojet revenues buoyed by record peak season

Cargojet recorded a 7% year-on-year increase in revenues in 2019, helped in part by a strong end to the year.

The Canada-based freighter operator saw revenues for 2019 reach C$486.6m, adjust earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were up 21.9% to C$119.2m but net earnings were down 42.6% to C$11.6m.

The increase in revenues and adjusted EBITDA were driven by a record peak season and improvements in its domestic network volumes and ACMI business, while the all-in charter business saw a decline in revenues on 2018 levels.

Net profits were affected by C$25.5m increase in depreciation, a C$2.5m increase in heavy maintenance amortisation, a C$3.4m increase in maintenance costs, a C$5.4m increase in crew costs, and a C$0.6m increase in commercial and other costs.

This was partially offset by a C$3.7m decrease in aircraft costs and a C$8.9m decrease in fuel costs.

“Cargojet continued to produce strong revenue and EBITDA growth in 2019,” said Ajay Virmani, president and chief executive.

“We remain focused on executing our strategy and are driving growth in each of our lines of business.

“Once again, we handled record volumes for 2019 peak season while delivering exceptional service to our customers.

“Our efforts to prudently manage costs are yielding better margins and we continue to optimise our fleet utilisation.”

Cargojet operates its network across North America each business night serving 15 major cities, and selected international destinations. Cargojet owns a fleet of 26 aircraft.