11:35 AM EDT, 05/21/2024 (MT Newswires) -- National Bank said Tuesday airfares in Canada were flat year over year in April and up 15.7% versus 2019 as per Canadian CPI data for April.

This follows a 2.9% year-over-year increase in March, which followed 11 straight months of year-over-year declines going back to April 2023, the bank noted. Fares fell 5.7% sequentially from March as April is typically a seasonally weaker month for air travel demand.

The April increase versus 2019 was lower than the 24% increase seen in March, but consistent with the February increase of 14.6%, the bank said.

"Following an 11-month stretch of y/y declines (on difficult comparables), airfares have stabilized the last two months, but are still well ahead of pre-pandemic levels," the analysts said.

On Air Canada ( ACDVF ) , National Bank has an outperform rating and a price target of $30. National Bank has an underperform rating on Transat A.T ( TRZBF ). (TRZ.TO) and a price target of $2.25.

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