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February 1, 2002 For Immediate Release

Air Canada today has announced the results of an important initiative - "Securing our Future," an intensive profitability initiative.

Paul Brotto, Executive Vice President, Planning and Cost Management, announced the basic structuring of the plan. "We have determined that we can maximize our profitability by eliminating all aircraft, combined with a massive focus on encouraging the accumulation of Aeroplan reward miles through third party partners."

The original goal of the initiative, when announced in June 2001, was to achieve a 10 per cent - or $1 billion - improvement in the airline's financial performance.

However, the team is thrilled to announce that their efforts have resulted in an almost 90 per cent reduction in cost, or $9 billion, instead.

"We think it is a brilliant strategy to stop flying altogether," stated Mr. Brotto. "As you know, the general economic downturn had a major negative impact on our financial situation. Business traffic was down dramatically. Fuel costs soared. And, as you'd expect in difficult economic times, customers were looking to lower cost travel - particularly among our competitors. So we solved the problem, by making the problem go away."

Mr. Hood believes the plan to stop flying fits the times. "Dammnit, everyone was becoming cranky. Our staff, our customers, the government. It just became one big ***** session. We got tired of it. So we just decided to get rid of the hassle of having passengers all together."

Air Canada does not believe that the lack of aircraft will cause any problems with its newly created Aeroplan division. "Look, we've done everything we can to ensure that people can't redeem points already," noted Brotto. "This is just the next step in our strategy to prevent actual rewards under Aeroplan. Indeed, we think this move is the piece de resistance; when people finally get through after a 12-hour wait on hold, we can tell them, honestly, that we don't have any seats."

Bruce Hood, Federal Government Ombudsman, an independent body responsible for ensuring the integrity of Air Canada's actions, indicated that he supported the move. "This will reduce my work dramatically," he said, "which means I can spend more time for golf. Without passengers, there will be no passenger complaints."

When pointed out the impropriety of appearing in an Air Canada press release on the matter, Mr. Hood indicated that he thought the question was offside.