The colossal loss followed six consecutive years of profits for the flagship Canadian airline, which has had to slash capacity by 90 percent in the face of the crisis.

"We are now living through the darkest period ever in the history of commercial aviation," CEO Calin Rovinescu said in a statement.

For the first three months of the year, Air Canada had a net loss of Can $1.049 billion, compared to net income in the same quarter last year of Can $345 million, the company said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2020