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Air Canada said on Wednesday it was expecting flight and baggage delays to subside through the rest of this year and next as staffing levels improve. The carrier also expects to see an uptick in business travel after the Labour Day holiday, CFO Amos Kazzaz said at an investor conference. Last month at a conference in New York, Kazzaz said he expected the problems plaguing the airline and the industry to ease into 2023. Canadian travellers passing through hubs such as Toronto’s Pearson International Airport this summer were greeted vexed by long lineups to clear customs and security on top of delays or cancellations to their flights. Staffing shortages were identified as a chief cause of these headaches, as the removal of pandemic-related restrictions spurred a rush back to summer travel that overwhelmed airlines and travel services. Air Canada responded to the system shock by slashing its summer flight schedule and most airlines, as well as federal agencies in charge of customs and security at airports, also ramped up their staff levels to run flights and speed up processing times.<br/>

United Airlines and American Airlines Group on Wednesday tried to allay concerns about consumer demand, saying there has been no slowdown in post-summer travel bookings. US carriers have been witnessing the strongest travel demand since the pandemic. Over the four-day Labor Day weekend, 8.76m passengers made their way through US TSA checkpoints, surpassing 2019 levels. The travel demand, however, tends to cool down after Labor Day, which traditionally marks the end of the US summer. With children returning to school, family vacations typically slow down, leaving carriers mostly reliant on business travelers. Patrick Quayle, senior vice President at United Airlines, told Cowen's annual transportation conference that travel bookings, thus far, have defied that historical trend as there has been no drop off in ticket sales between August and September. "It does not appear that summer has come to an end," he said. "It's that strong." Encouraged by "a strong demand environment," the Chicago-based carrier on Wednesday revised up its revenue estimate for the current quarter. It now expects total operating revenue in the quarter through September to be up 12% from the same period in 2019, up from a prior forecast of 11%. United also lifted the forecast for adjusted operating margin on the back of improvements in non-fuel operating costs.<br/>

United Airlines has reintroduced 44 of its 52 of Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered Boeing 777s, marking a significant milestone in the company’s recovery from an in-flight engine failure that grounded the fleet in February 2021. Patrick Quayle, airline’s senior vice-president of international network and alliances, said that most of United’s 777 fleet was back in the air during the Cowen Global Transportation and Sustainable Mobility Conference on 7 September. “There has been terrific progress,” Quayle said. “We give credit also to Pratt and Boeing for being good partners and dedicating resources to solving the problem. Obviously, it took longer than anybody wanted, but in the end, it was a good collaboration between the three companies.” The airline grounded its PW4000-powered 777s after one of its aircraft experienced a blade-out in-flight failure outside of Denver on 20 February 2021. Two fan blades had cracked due to metal fatigue, resulting in the loss of its starboard engine minutes after take off, showering neighborhoods below with debris. Nobody was injured, but it was the third such incident involving a PW4000 within three years.<br/>

Air Canada’s plans for a deeper relationship with Emirates Airline include expanded service to India, the company’s chief executive has indicated. Michael Rousseau said Wednesday the Middle Eastern airline has “incredible access” to the Indian subcontinent, a geography which the Canadian company wants to “grow into”. The Emirates [collaboration] is very interesting. Ten years ago they were the enemy, and for the most part we have developed a different type of thinking as time has gone on.” “India is a key market for us to access, Emirates allows us to access that market that will enhance our ability to bring people to Canada and Emirates will get a little more access to Canada,” Rousseau continues. “We will develop a codeshare in due course that will make the travel journey for our customers much more seamless.” Air Canada announced its plans for a codeshare in July, under which the Montreal-based carrier intends to sell tickets on “key” Emirates flights. The deal would give Air Canada’s customers “options” when travelling to Dubai, and beyond from Dubai, Air Canada said. Under the agreement, “select Air Canada flights” would also carry Emirates’ code. Air Canada did not specify how many or which routes the deal would encompass, and the agreement still requires regulatory approval. Emirates already has a codeshare deal with US carrier JetBlue Airways. The Canadian carrier joins United Airlines, a fellow Star Alliance member, in pursuing co-operation with Emirates. Last week, the US carrier announced an event on 14 September in Washington DC together with Emirates, fuelling speculation that the Gulf giant may join the Star Alliance as well. The two partnerships stand to expand Emirates’ reach after a fall-out between it and major US airlines last decade.<br/>

In the latest hint of a major change to Emirates’ US strategy, the Dubai-based airline is ending its partnership with JetBlue Airways on October 30. The change comes as Emirates prepares to hold a joint “special event” with United Airlines on September 14. The United announcement is expected to include a codeshare partnership that would see both Emirates and United connect their passengers onto the other carriers’ flights. Emirates and JetBlue have been partners since 2012. The tie up has had commercial ripples through the industry, for example, it forced United to end flights to Dubai in 2016 after the partners won the US government contract for travel to the Gulf city. And Fort Lauderdale — a major base for JetBlue — was Emirates’ sole destination in South Florida from 2016 until 2020; Emirates swapped Fort Lauderdale for Miami in 2021, according to Diio by Cirium schedules. JetBlue, like Emirates, notified frequent flyers on its website that the partnership with Emirates would end on October 30.<br/>

Japanese travelers are flocking to international flights now that the government has eased its once-tough COVID restrictions on reentering the country from abroad. All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines are seeing a major uptick in reservations, with new bookings for international flights in October roughly doubling after the government first announced its plans. The Japanese government on Wednesday increased the cap for daily arrivals to 50,000 people from 20,000. It also scrapped its requirement for proof of a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of departure in certain cases, lowering the hurdle for overseas business travel. ANA saw a swift increase in reservations for international flights after the government announced the changes on Aug. 24. Average daily bookings for October flights departing Japan, in particular, increased 2.7 times in the week through Monday from mid-August. Meanwhile, new JAL bookings for flights out of Japan increased 6.6 times during the same week, compared with mid-August. Many were business travelers, or Japanese living abroad make visits home. "I've heard customers say they aren't worried about going overseas now that the testing requirement is gone," said ANA Executive Vice President Akiko Oyamada at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. Both airlines are expanding international service, particularly for popular business routes, in preparation for a further rebound.<br/>

The aviation industry is gearing up to cater an increase in travel demand ahead of Chuseok, the Korean thanksgiving holiday that kicks off Friday. Korean Air is operating two more flights from Gimpo to Jeju starting Wednesday until Sept. 13. These flights are operated using larger aircraft to accommodate 11,000 more passengers, which is a 10 percent increase in the airlines number of seats along that route for the Chuseok holiday. Asiana Airlines, the country’s second-biggest carrier, added 5,500 seats more for domestic flights during the same period in response to growing travel demand. More than 70% of these additional seats have already been booked, according to an official from Asiana Airlines. Budget carriers including T'way Air and Jeju Air have also augmented around 6,000 seats more for their domestic flights. In efforts to attract more customers during the peak season, airlines are also providing tickets at a cheaper price.<br/>