More than half of Air Canada’s flights over the Canada Day weekend were canceled or delayed
Air Canada delayed or canceled nearly 2,000 flights over the Canada Day long weekend, potentially heralding more trouble for passengers.
About half of all trips on the country’s largest airline — including lower-cost Air Canada Rouge and regional partner Jazz Aviation — were disrupted Saturday through Monday, according to figures from tracking service FlightAware.
The 1,965 flight delays and cancellations — which affect more than 52 percent of scheduled flights — contrasts with numbers from other Canadian airlines, including WestJet, Air Transat and Flair Airlines, which recorded lower flight disruptions.
The numbers also mark an increase from the previous weekend, despite an unexpected shortage of air traffic controllers at Nav Canada that grumbled travel during that period.
Posts and photos of squiggly lines and bulging terminals at airports in Toronto and Montreal have surfaced on social media in recent days as passengers expressed frustrations over late starts and customer service in a throwback to scenes of post-pandemic airport chaos a year ago.
Pearson International, 2 p.m. Air Canada delays (and some cancellations). pic.twitter.com/lxtioZ8dhK
Air Canada pointed out that the airline industry is now in the throes of its summer peak, with more than 140,000 customers boarding the airline’s planes every day.
“Our top priority is making sure everyone travels safely, even if it takes extra time,” spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said in an email.
Deteriorating trend
Nevertheless, disruption rates have been on the rise in recent weeks, said John Gradek, who teaches in McGill University’s aviation management program. Busy flight schedules and crew shortages come into play during peak season, he said, because it’s harder to find a spare plane or pilot to fill a gap when every plane flies more.
“There are a lot of people flying, planes are full and there is very little operational reliability or operational backup,” Gradek said.
“If a plane goes down for any reason — mechanical things happen — you have to fix the plane before you take off. So you automatically take these monstrous delays or you cancel.”
Air Canada is juggling a tighter schedule following the industry-wide collapse in revenue due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Gradek added, with the company operating at about 90 percent of its pre-pandemic flight capacity.
The carrier repeated that message, pointing out that it can take longer to recover from a key in gears when a system is running at full throttle.
“For example, if thunderstorms halt our operation, as we saw over the weekend in the northeastern U.S., we may need more time than planned to get aircraft into position for their next flights,” Fitzpatrick said.
He added that Air Canada is fully staffed, with more employees than in the summer of 2019, despite fewer flights being operated.
Savanthi Syth, an analyst at Raymond James, said in a May 17 note to investors that flight demand “is still recovering… especially in long-haul international and commercial travel – areas on which Air Canada in particular depends.” In such an environment, it makes sense to rely on tight schedules and fewer planes.
According to FlightAware, flights from Air Canada, Rouge and Jazz recorded between 50 and 54 percent on-time nationwide on Monday, though the number was lower at Toronto’s Pearson Airport. In contrast, WestJet hit 77 percent nationwide and Pearson’s 72 percent.
Again, international variables to blame
Several other reasons explain the difference between Air Canada and its smaller competitors.
Air Canada has many more international flights, so cross-border or ocean issues have a greater effect on the airline.
United Airlines, a codeshare partner, saw the highest rate of flight disruptions of any major U.S. carrier last week, which also caused problems for Air Canada.
Hundreds of Air Canada and Rouge passengers have had their travel plans disrupted for the second time in recent days due to problems with the airline’s flight communications system. Hundreds of flights were delayed Thursday and dozens were cancelled.
The storms of the past few days hit Central Canada and the northeastern US, hitting Air Canada more than rival WestJet, which holds more of the western sky.
Meanwhile, Nav Canada said there were no delays related to the country’s air navigation service at Pearson or Trudeau airports this weekend, unlike the previous one.
“As for the recent delays at Toronto Pearson and Trudeau airports, we can confirm that they were primarily due to thunderstorms,” spokesperson Maryam Amini said in an email.
Weather, runway construction and other infrastructure work are “by far the most common source of delays, involving many parties,” from contractors to security and baggage handling agencies, she said.
;Resize=620)
