There may be two things that you never want to hear when you’re on a flight, and for a recent Air Canada (TSE:AC) flight, it’s no different. The first is “there’s something on the wing,” and the second is “the engine’s on fire.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t a “Twilight Zone” quote that shook up passengers on a recent flight from Toronto to Paris. It was the second one. And that sent shares of the Canadian airline into a roughly 1.5% tailspin in Friday afternoon’s trading.
Flight AC872 took off from Toronto, heading for the City of Lights late Wednesday night. But just as the plane left the runway, one of the engines caught fire in reportedly dramatic fashion, with flames emerging from the back end of the aircraft. A statement from Air Canada noted that an “engine issue” had taken place, which is probably the kindest way to describe an “unauthorized column of fire pouring out of an engine.”
The plane, however, quickly turned back and landed without incident. Fire crews were on hand, and perhaps best of all, no injuries were reported as a result of the fire. In what may have been the saddest part of the whole thing, though, was that the flight used a Boeing (NYSE:BA) jet.
A Mixed Bag of Customer Service
That news was shake-up enough for Air Canada passengers, but it gets stranger. First came the announcement that domestic flights would likely get a little more entertaining. For the rest of 2024, Air Canada flights within Canada and the United States would offer complimentary wine, beer, pretzels, and cookies for even economy class seats. However, Air Canada is also taking a couple of its passengers to court after a previous court ruling required Air Canada to pay said passengers C$2,000.
Air Canada wants the Canadian Transportation Agency’s (CTA’s) decision overturned, so apparently, it’s suing the passengers who won the case in the first place.
Is It Safe to Buy Air Canada Stock?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on AC stock based on five Buys and two Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 20.5% loss in its share price over the past year, the average AC price target of C$27.28 per share implies 53.71% upside potential.
