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Air Canada said Wednesday it planned to operate flights at 79% of its pre-pandemic capacity this summer, as North American carriers struggle to meet strong demand for travel amid a broader industry staffing shortage. Canada's largest carrier has wrestled with complaints over delayed and cancelled flights, but said in a statement it saw improvements in baggage handling and on-time performance during the week of Aug. 8, compared with the week of June 27. Carriers in the US and Canada have cut thousands of flights as soaring travel demand following a pandemic-induced slump leads to cases of long lines and lost baggage at some major airports. Earlier this week, American Airlines cut its November schedule as part of the carrier's efforts to reduce disruptions. Air Canada said in June it would cut its summer schedule to reduce passenger flows to manageable levels.<br/>

Air Canada says it has improved its service levels through the summer, reducing wait times and cancellations and bringing its baggage mishandling rate back to 2019 levels. The Montreal-based airline provided an update on Wednesday on the operational improvement initiatives that have been underway as the company grapples with numerous challenges in the post-pandemic recovery. Air Canada says that from the week of June 27 to the week of August 8, it saw the strongest improvement in baggage handling. While the company did not disclose its baggage mishandling rate, it says that the rate during the week of June 27 was 2.5 times the rate in 2019, before the pandemic hit. As of Aug. 8, Air Canada says the rate has returned to pre-pandemic levels, with a baggage handling success rate of 98%. The airline has also experienced a reduction in flight delays of more than one hour between, with 1,160 fewer flights per week facing longer delays. Air Canada also says delays are getting shorter, with the average arrival delay improving from 28 minutes longer than 2019 levels in the week of June 27, to 12 minutes longer than 2019 levels in the week of Aug. 8. The number of flights cancelled fell 77% between June 27 and Aug. 8. The airline's flight completion rate reached 96.7%, less than one percentage point lower than in the same week in 2019. "We know how much our customers value travel and their reliance on us to transport them safely, comfortably and without disruption. This is always our goal and we share with them their disappointment that, coming out of the pandemic, the global industry faltered due to the unprecedented challenges of restarting after a two-year, virtual shutdown," Air Canada CE Michael Rousseau said Wednesday. "While I am very satisfied with the progress to date... we all continue to work hard on behalf of our customers to complete our recovery."<br/>

Portuguese flag-carrier TAP’s management has signalled that it is losing patience with union sniping over the airline’s efforts to keep its restructuring programme on track. TAP has acknowledged the difficult conditions – including large cuts to salaries – which were imposed as part of a restructuring scheme approved by the EC. Its executive committee insists that the agreements, which run to 2025, cannot revert to a “blank slate” despite increasing pressure from unions over the last few months and several public statements levelling provocative accusations at the company. Nine unions jointly argued in late May that TAP was progressing towards restoring 90% of pre-pandemic activity, claiming this was two years ahead of government expectations – and this meant the restructuring was “out of step with reality” and unjustified, and workers were suffering “serious damage” by continuing to finance it. This followed previous belligerent remarks from the aviation union Sitava, questioning the executive committee’s abilities, accusing it of “open war” on workers and insisting TAP staff were not “cannon fodder”. But TAP appears to view such comments as rhetoric, and says that – while it “keeps the doors open” for “serious and constructive dialogue” – it refuses to engage with unions through public statements intended to generate headlines. The executive committee says it “regrets and repudiates” continuing attempts by some unions to attack its credibility and competence” through out-of-context, and even “completely false”, commentary. “Management of any company is evaluated not by union press releases but by the results it presents,” the committee states – adding that these results are audited and verified. The airline will present a first-half financial update on 23 August. TAP says unions demonstrated responsibility by agreeing the restructuring measures, and says the carrier will “finally be able to restore salaries fully” from 2025.<br/>

ANA Holdings and other firms in Japan are looking at offering luxury tours to attract to the country rich foreign visitors who spend large amounts when traveling. Aiming to create new businesses through the move with an eye toward the post-COVID-19 world and regional revitalization, they are currently discussing offering tours that allow participants to travel all around Japan for more than a week by private jet, with tour destinations based on themes such as history, nature and culture. Such plans are being considered by ANA Holdings-affiliated firms, Nippon Travel Agency, outdoor gear seller Snow Peak, the city of Tajimi in Gifu Prefecture and the Regional Revitalization and Inbound Tourism Council, which studies businesses targeting the wealthy. Trial tours were launched in April, also in cooperation with publishing firms and universities. The parties involved plan to pick around 10 destinations from across the country for the luxury trips by the end of the year, and to offer the tours from as early as next year. The main target of the tours is people known as ultra-high-net-worth individuals, or UHNWIs, each with at least $50m (¥6.7b) in financial assets. There are estimated to be some 210,000 UHNWIs in the world.<br/>

Park Sam-koo, former chairperson of Kumho Asiana Group, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday for embezzlement of company funds, breach of trust and fair trade law violations. The Seoul Central District Court made the ruling and ordered the immediate detention of Park after finding him guilty of his criminal charges. The 77-year-old Park resigned as chairperson of Kumho Asiana Group and its affiliate Asiana Airlines in 2019 to take responsibility for controversial bookkeeping for the nation's No. 2 carrier. He was arrested and indicted in May last year on the multiple criminal charges but was released on bail in November. Park is accused of masterminding unfair inter-affiliate transactions in violation of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act to rebuild the group and regain control of group companies. Park was indicted for withdrawing 330b won ($252m) from four affiliates in 2015 to pay for the return of Kumho Industrial shares from the state-funded Korea Development Bank and other creditors.<br/>