Covid-19: Air Canada falls 28% as overseas travellers blocked

Bloomberg

Air Canada fell as much as 38%, its biggest one-day drop since going public, after prime minister Justin Trudeau said the country would close its borders to all foreign travellers except Americans.
The Montreal-based company became the latest airline to withdraw financial forecasts and cut capacity as the Covid-19 pandemic plunges the global industry into unchartered territory.
The stock, the best performer in the S&P/TSX Composite Index over the decade that ended on December 31, 2019, has dropped 62% this year.
Canada said the new travel restrictions would come into effect on March 18. Airlines will be required to assess
travellers and deny boarding to passengers with symptoms of Covid-19. All international flights except those from
Mexico, the Caribbean, and the US will be forced to land at one of four airports: Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary.
“Covid-19 presents the global airline industry with unprecedented challenges, compounded by uncertainty as to the extent of its effects,” CEO Calin Rovinescu said in a statement before Trudeau spoke. “However, we are confident that after a decade of transformation and record results, Air Canada today has the agility, the team and the route network to successfully navigate through this crisis.”
Airlines have said they’ll shrink operations to a trickle of flights, severing global links and putting hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk as they fight to preserve cash and
survive coronavirus pandemic.
The company said it has drawn down its $600 million revolving credit facility and cut schedules as more people stay grounded. Capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASM) is expected to be reduced by about 50% in the second quarter from a year earlier.