2023 Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes
AIR CANADA
2023 Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes
For the Domestic Registered Defined Benefit Plans, the investments conform to the Statement of Investment Policies
and Procedures of the Air Canada Pension Funds. As permitted under the investment policy, the actual asset mix may
deviate from the target allocation from time to time. The investment return objective is to achieve a total annualized
rate of return that exceeds by a minimum of 1.0% before investment fees on average over the long term (i.e. 10 years)
the total annualized return that could have been earned by passively managing the Liability Replicating Portfolio. The
Liability Replicating Portfolio, which is referenced to widely used Canadian fixed income indices (FTSE Canada), closely
matches the characteristics of the pension liabilities.
Recognizing the importance of surplus risk management, Air Canada manages the Domestic Registered Defined
Benefit Plans in an effort to mitigate surplus risk (defined as the difference between asset value and pension liability
value), which is considered to be the key risk to be minimized and monitored. In addition, the objective of the investment
strategy is to invest the plan assets in a prudent and diversified manner to mitigate the risk of price fluctuation of asset
classes and individual investments within those asset classes and to combine those asset classes and individual
investments in an effort to reduce overall risk.
In addition to the broad asset allocation, as summarized in the asset allocation section above, the following policies
apply to individual asset classes invested within the pension funds:
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The broad equity portfolio (Canadian and foreign equities) is required to be diversified among regions, industries
and economic sectors. Limitations are placed on the allocation to any individual security.
Alternative investments are investments in non-publicly traded securities and in non-traditional asset classes. They
may comprise, but are not limited to, investments in real estate, agriculture, timber, private equity, venture capital,
infrastructure, emerging markets debt, high yield bonds and commodity futures. The Alternative investments
portfolio is required to be diversified by asset class, strategy, sector and geography.
The fixed income portfolio is oriented toward long-term investment grade securities rated "BBB" or higher. With the
exception of Government of Canada securities, or a province thereof, or the U.S. Government, in which the plan
may invest the entire fixed income allocation, these investments are required to be diversified among individual
securities and sectors.
Derivatives are permitted provided that they are used for managing a particular risk (including interest rate risk related
to pension liabilities) or to create exposures to given markets and currencies and that counterparties have a minimum
credit rating of A. The Corporation manages interest rate risk related to its actuarial liabilities through a combination of
financial instruments including, but not limited to, bonds, bond repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements, bond
forwards, bond futures and interest rate swaps. As at December 31, 2023, approximately 85% of Air Canada's Domestic
Registered Defined Benefit Plans' assets were invested in fixed income instruments to mitigate a significant portion of
the interest rate (discount rate) risk. Counterparty credit risk associated with such financial instruments is mitigated by
receiving collateral from counterparties based on collateralization agreements, as well as by monitoring the
counterparties' credit ratings and ensuring compliance with the investment policy. The fair value of these derivative
instruments is included in the Bonds in the asset composition table and is not a significant component of the aggregate
bond fair values of the portfolio.
The trusts for the supplemental plans are invested 50% in a mix of indexed equity investments and alternative
investments, in accordance with their investment policies, with the remaining 50% held by the Canada Revenue Agency
as a refundable tax, in accordance with tax legislation. Due to unrealized gains and losses on invested assets, the
market value of assets could deviate from this allocation from time to time.
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