I would like to begin by reaffirming our commitment to Indigenous inclusion. Air Canada's network crosses many treaty lands, as well as unceded and traditional territories of Indigenous nations, tribes, and governments on Turtle Island, in other words, North America. In doing so, Air Canada recognizes the ancestral and traditional lands of the Indigenous peoples we fly over. Notice of the meeting having been duly given, and quorum being present, I call our 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting to order. I refer you to the agenda I've adopted to govern the order of business and to the general rules of conduct for the meeting. You'll find these and other relevant materials in the Documents tab of your webcast screen and on the Investor Relations page on aircanada.com.
Voting is now open for all items on the agenda to be voted on today, and will be closed shortly after the last item on the agenda that will be submitted to a vote. Today, our meeting includes shareholders from across Canada and around the world. We're glad you're joining us wherever you may be. [Foreign language] . I'm pleased for us to return here in Toronto, home to nearly 15,000 employees, as well as one of our primary hubs of operations. I'm joined on the podium on my immediate right by Marc Barbeau, our Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary, who'll act as the Secretary of this meeting, and John Di Bert, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Michael Rousseau, our President and Chief Executive Officer, is currently recovering from a medical procedure that has required him to curtail his public activities over the coming weeks. He's in good health and remains fully engaged with the operations of the company. [Foregin language].
[Foreign language] . As we note in our most recent filings, measures affecting trade relations between Canada and its partners may affect business or economic conditions generally, or lead to changes in demand for air travel overall for some destinations. Air Canada is monitoring these developments and assessing their impacts. [Foreign language].
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[Foreign language] . Then I'll share some remarks about our 2024 financial year, followed by a Q&A session. Our board is proud of how Air Canada has restored its business, operational depth, and financial position through an eventful year. We're proud of how our leadership team and our over 40,000 employees have done so while staying true to the long-standing values and priorities that have guided us through challenging and other times. These include remaining dedicated to safety first, always our overarching priority. We've seen all too recently how important this value is for all of us in our industry, and our thoughts remain with all those affected by recent incidents and their families.
Our priorities and values also include striving to gain the trust of our customers and others by acting on our commitment to rise higher, keeping customers at the heart of what we do. Working passionately to nurture innovation and create an environment where everyone is treated with respect and can contribute the best of themselves. Continuing to encourage sustainability while creating efficiencies and furthering productivity. We're deeply grateful for the unwavering commitment and passion of all our employees in serving our customers. In 2025, we're celebrating 60 years since our name was changed to Air Canada, reflecting our then-expanding reach beyond Canada. Still today, Air Canada embraces the best of Canada at home and around the world, which begins with glowing-hearted hospitality and with care and class.
We proudly carry Canada's flag and are equally proud to be made up of employees from all over the world and to serve a global customer base. Nous sommes fiers aussi de l'engagement d'Air Canada en matière de langue officielle que nous mettons à profit pour la promotion du français, notamment avec nos parties prenantes à Québec, où se trouve notre siège social. We appreciate the voting support every board member nominee received from shareholders in the run-up to today's meeting. Together, they bring remarkable experience and expertise into the boardroom, drawing on so many backgrounds and perspectives in advancing our priorities in a changing world. The board and its committees oversaw management's progress in three key focus areas for Air Canada, namely financial performance, strategic and operational initiatives, and sustainability priorities.
This involved a wide range of customer risk mitigation and strategic objectives about issues that matter to us and to our customers and other stakeholders. Your board has also continued to act and plan on its continuing renewal, adding two new board members over the past five years, but also relying on board continuity and its collective experience and industry knowledge, which have proven critical to its efficient operation through an unprecedented period. This year, we've reached at least one meaningful milestone. If all nominees are elected at today's meeting, 42% of our board will be women, achieving a relative state of gender representation. Our policy will now be that men and women shall each comprise at least 35%-45% of the board.
As we approach the end of Michael Wilson's term on the board, we thank him for his commitment, leadership, and guidance through an unprecedented period of global crisis and uncertainty. Finally, our board joins everyone at Air Canada in our gratitude to our customers for their loyalty and to our shareholders for their trust and investment in our company. We know that the annual meeting is a special moment in our dialogue with our shareholders on a number of topics. Last year, one of the shareholder proposals you voted on concerned the format of these meetings. We saw this as an opportunity to consult with you to help inform how we decide to meet in the future. [Foreign language].
[Foreign language] . Finally, I ask those of you planning to speak or raise a question to please keep your comments brief. A couple of minutes should be sufficient to make your point. Unless your questions or remarks relate to the specific item of business under consideration, I ask that you hold them until the question period. Our meeting has been streamlined to allow for as much as possible for our remarks and our Q&A session. Mark will now speak to certain formalities and the matters to be voted on.
Marc.
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[Foreign language] , Marc. I don't see any question about this item on the agenda for us or our auditor, so we'll move to the next items on the agenda.
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Seeing no questions or comments from our shareholders, I encourage you to vote using the voting tab on your webcast screen. Marc, would you move to the third item on the agenda?
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Again, seeing no questions or comments from our shareholders and proxy holders, once again, I encourage shareholders to cast or change their votes now on this or any prior proposal using the voting tab on your webcast screen as we prepare to close the ballots in a few minutes. Marc, would you move to the next item on the agenda?
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[Foreign language] , Marc. I would remind registered shareholders and proxy holders that they may submit their questions or comments to us at any time before the end of the question period. However, if they have not done so, they must vote or change their votes within the next minute since the voting function will be deactivated shortly, putting an end to voting on the items of the agenda. [Foreign language].
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Thank you, Marc. We will now pause the formal proceedings of our meeting to allow me to share some additional remarks. Your company, Air Canada, demonstrated wide-ranging strengths in 2024. This includes its ability to adapt to sometimes difficult market conditions. Our results reflect the work we're doing to set up our airlines for success in the future. During the year, we generated a record operating revenue of nearly CAD 22.3 billion, an increase of CAD 422 million from 2023. Our adjusted net income was over CAD 1.3 billion, and adjusted earnings per diluted share was $3.55. We delivered CAD 1.3 billion in free cash flow and ended the year with total liquidity of CAD 9.2 billion. Generating free cash flow and maintaining ample liquidity have become even more critical. I was very pleased that with these earnings, we were able to return value to you.
We bought back and canceled more than 35 million shares during the year and in early 2025. [Foreign language]. A measure of this success is the large number of awards given Air Canada in 2024. Yet, we're not resting on these accomplishments, and with our customers foremost in our minds, we remain deeply committed to further improvement in 2025.
We continue to be guided by four corporate priorities. The first of these is funding our future, ensuring we have the resources to fulfill our plans, seize opportunities, or cope with the unexpected. In 2024, we executed capital allocation priorities exactly as planned. Notably, we strengthened our balance sheet by further reducing debt. Further out, we have ambitious plans. Achieving these requires that we drive revenue growth and increase our revenue by thoughtfully managing our network and also by offering a stronger value proposition. By this, we mean better products, especially premium products, our loyalty program, and through IT and digital opportunities. This is why we anticipate significant investments over the next five years in technology, in aircraft reconfiguration and upgrades, and in maintaining our infrastructure, including lounges and airports. We'll also invest in fleet reliability through scheduled maintenance. This will help with OTP, a key determinant of customer satisfaction.
Moving in lockstep with our investment program will be a focus on balance sheet management. Keeping expenses down and meeting our cost and EBITDA objectives will remain our top financial goals. We have a number of operational initiatives across the organization to reduce CASM . This brings me to another benefit of our strong financial performance. It has allowed us to develop an ambitious fleet plan without compromising our balance sheet. These investments will help us achieve a second priority: reaching new frontiers. Our network ambitions are anchored to our three geographically well-positioned hubs. We have an efficient fleet with a global reach, enabling Sixth Freedom growth and the diversification of our customer base and points of sale. Our varied products complement this by appealing to all types of customers globally.
This includes those looking for package holidays and cruises whom we serve through Air Canada Vacations, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year and delivered a strong performance in 2024. Similarly, after a few slow years in the cargo industry, Air Canada Cargo revenue was up CAD 67 million, or 7%, from 2023. Our network strategy also leverages decades of past, present, and future immigration that are expected to translate into higher international demand. In 2024, capacity increased by 5.4%, and service was launched to four new stations. This year, we're starting or increasing service to many other destinations. [Foreign language].
[Foreign language] . These intermodal partnerships also promise significant environmental benefits. More immediately, in terms of network in response to seeing a recovery on the Atlantic, we've shifted capacity from Asia, where overall market capacity is up substantially. This highlights another of our great strengths: we can move assets easily around the world to maximize returns. Our ability to pivot is also helping us in the uncertain tariff environment in North America, with its implications for cross-border travel. By mid-March, the bookings on the transborder market overall for the next six months were down about 10% year on year, according to our data, and our own numbers were of a comparable magnitude. As announced, we've shifted some capacity, primarily from some destinations, by using smaller aircraft or reducing some frequencies.
That's allowed us to add capacity to other markets where demand is stronger, especially the trans-Atlantic market. We continue to monitor the situation. [Foreign language] . Our net promoter score, by which we gauge customer satisfaction, rose 11 points in 2024 over the preceding year. In addition to solid gains in OTP and baggage delivery, this improvement can also be attributed to the new programs and investments we've made in the airport and flying experience. Many of these involve technology. Another innovation was the creation of our proactive customer care team.
This round-the-clock team, located in our operations control center, helps employees with customer recovery in real time. In its first six months, the team supported over 50,000 customers. This not only makes things better for our customers but also saves us related costs. In airports, we're launching our Care and Class program after a trial at Ottawa. It'll empower our agents and provide them with a toolkit, including new mobile tools, to resolve issues on the spot. Meeting customer expectations also includes making changes when we can do better, such as in the way we handle Indigenous, sacred, and ceremonial items. Another area we've similarly emphasized is in supporting those traveling with a disability. We had 1.4 million accessibility requests in 2024, a nearly 9% increase from 2023. Satisfaction with accessibility assistance showed a notable improvement over the course of 2024 based on the NPS.
This is accounted for by steps we took last year, including investments in equipment such as 27 new Eagle Lifts across Canada. We were proud to act on our commitment by sponsoring the Canadian Paralympic team at the Paris Paralympic Games as part of our support to all our Olympians and Paralympians. We are enhancing the customer experience in other ways. Customers are enjoying new food and beverage offerings. For example, we recently named our new celebrity chef, Masayuki Hashimoto. Our glowing-hearted program will emphasize the textures, colors, and materials found in Canadian nature as we refurbish our aircraft interiors, beginning with the XLR aircraft. Wi-Fi is now both an essential tool for travelers and a necessity if we are to spare our Gen Z customers' smartphone withdrawal. Recognizing this, we announced free Wi-Fi across our fleet to all Aeroplan members.
[Foreign language] . In addition to these hard-spec improvements, as we look to the future, IT will become even more central to the customer experience, including through what we call the Harmony Program. With 80% of customers using online services, we're offering new functions such as mobile and apps for bag recovery, rebooking on the day of travel, and self-service bag drop at airports. With Vancouver Airport, we've also begun offering digital identification as a boarding option for almost all domestic flights. Finally, Aeroplan has gone from strength to strength, and in 2024, it saw records in active members and redemption volumes as its third-party gross billings rose 10% to CAD 1.8 billion.
Aeroplan also celebrated its 40th birthday. Beyond great products, for an airline to truly succeed, it requires skilled people who can deliver excellent customer service. We therefore invest in training and tools so that they can take care of our customers. We've also launched our new Elevate program, focusing on empathy, building trust, and empowering our people by leading with care and class every day. More than 2,000 senior and mid-level managers have begun this training. Our success is well recognized. Apart from improving customer service, our strong program saves us money on recruitment and training. It's also meaningful that we have above-average retention compared to the transport industry overall. In 2024, we were pleased to achieve a new labor contract with our pilots. It had been 10 years since we last negotiated a contract, adding to the complexity of any bargaining of this nature.
Reaching an agreement with minimal disruption underscores the commitment of all stakeholders to Air Canada's long-term success and to customer service. Lifting each other up also means contributing to the communities we serve. We've continued to work with the Air Canada Foundation, which supported 360 Canadian charitable organizations dedicated to the health and well-being of children. We also advanced our representation and inclusion goals through community outreach and engagement. We want to see a more inclusive and diverse aviation industry, broadening the pool of talent we can draw on. In terms of the environment, in 2024, we further pursued our climate ambitions. Our approach is multifaceted and includes fleet renewal, electrification of ground vehicles, and encouraging the development of sustainable fuels at scale.
To this end, in 2024, we procured nearly 78 million liters of sustainable aviation fuel from Nestlé and purchased over 100,000 liters of low-carbon aviation fuel from Parkland, the first batch of such fuel produced in Canada. Much more is needed, however, for us to meet our collective goals, and we're engaged with all stakeholders to that end. We're also committed to community-focused environmental projects through partnerships such as the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada and our sustainability scholarship for students. [Foreign language] .
Finally, as we approach our 90th year of operation, we want to underscore how proud we continue to be to carry Canada's flag and how seriously we take that responsibility. We are, as always, committed to sharing the best of Canada at home and abroad. As we serve Canadians in connecting them with each other and the world, this includes working hard to live up to our commitments, acting with care, humility, and respect, and being financially responsible and mindful of our stakeholders. This has been true historically and will remain so in the future, as together we face new challenges and opportunities. [Foreign language] .
I would ask those of you who would like to ask a question to please go to the microphone, confirm that you are ready to shareholder or proxy holder. If you're online, you may submit a question through the messaging tab of your webcast screen. To ensure that as many questions or comments as possible can be addressed, I would ask that questions remain concise, ideally not exceeding a couple of minutes. Please limit yourself to one question or comment at a time, allowing others to take their turn. If your question has already been asked by someone else, I would kindly ask that you refrain from repeating it. Are there any questions? [Foreign language].
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It's a good question, and obviously, it's something that we monitor every day, and it is something you need to monitor on an everyday basis because basically there is new news every single day. However, it is far too early to draw conclusions. The best we can do is to stay agile, to prepare ourselves for what might come, and to build up as much flexibility as we can. I mentioned the fleet already, that's one point, to build up flexibility there. We have a lot of flexibility in our network. We can redeploy capacity across our different regions and so on. Am I concerned? Yes, definitely, I'm concerned. However, we also have to remember that, and we have sort of a live situation now, you can say, I said in my remarks before that we're seeing around sort of 10% effect on the transborder.
However, we're seeing very strong demand on other areas. There is also a sort of a situation where customers may be sort of just, they still go on vacation, for instance, they just go elsewhere and so on. For instance, we saw Transatlantic being very strong and so on. We meet very regularly in the board to discuss this and try to sort of get the newest information always so that we can make informed choices, and management is fully on top of it. I'd say that up till now, at least, it is, you can say, contained really well, and we've put in the mitigation that we can in the short term so that we can hopefully sort of mitigate the effects to the widest extent possible. It's an everyday thing, it's a living thing, and we just keep it under review.
I'm happy about the flexibility, I'm really happy about the response from management in very quickly building up that flexibility. John, anything you want to add? You covered it very, very well. I think that we've also taken steps to make sure we manage costs and, as Vagn said, disciplined on capacity and how we allocate capacity. I think you've covered it well. Thank you. Are there further questions? Seeing no further questions in the meeting room or online, the discussion of matters for shareholder consideration is completed as we reconvene the formal part of our meeting. [Foreign language] . That wraps up our annual shareholders meeting. Having completed the business of the meeting, I want to thank everyone who made today's in-person and remote event possible.
I also want to thank you all for joining today's meeting and for your questions. We're looking forward to your continued engagement in the year ahead. I now declare our 2025 annual meeting of shareholders has concluded.