Nearly 2,000 Air Canada flights delayed, cancelled over long weekend
Air Canada delayed or cancelled nearly 2,000 flights over the Canada Day long weekend in a potential taste of more trouble ahead for passengers. Roughly half of all trips by the country's biggest airline - including its 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 - over 52 per cent of scheduled flights - stand in contrast to numbers from other Canadian carriers including WestJet, Air Transat and Flair Airlines, which registered lower flight disruption levels. They also mark an uptick from the previous weekend, despite an unexpected shortage of air traffic controllers at Nav Canada that snarled travel during that period. Posts and photos of snaking lines and bulging terminals at the main Toronto and Montreal airports popped up on social media over the past few days, as passengers vented their frustrations about late takeoffs and customer service in a throwback to scenes of post-pandemic airport chaos a year ago. The air travel sector is now in the throes of its summer peak, with 600,000 customers boarding Air Canada planes between this past Friday and Monday, the company said. Nonetheless, disruption figures have been trending upward over the past few weeks, said John Gradek, who teaches at McGill University's aviation management program. Crowded flight schedules and crew shortages play a role in peak season, he said, since it's harder to find a spare plane or pilot to fill a gap when each aircraft is flying more. “There's a lot of people flying, planes are full, and there's there's very little operational reliability or operational backup,” Gradek said. “If an airplane craps out, for whatever reason - mechanical things do happen - you've got to fix the airplane before you go. So you automatically take these monstrous delays or you cancel.” Air Canada pointed out that it may take longer to recover from a wrench in the gears, particularly when a network is running at full tilt. “As with any system operating at capacity, slowdowns can occur and there is ... less flexibility, which can result in delays and slow recovery from unplanned events,” spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said in an email.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-07-05/star/nearly-2-000-air-canada-flights-delayed-cancelled-over-long-weekend
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Nearly 2,000 Air Canada flights delayed, cancelled over long weekend
Air Canada delayed or cancelled nearly 2,000 flights over the Canada Day long weekend in a potential taste of more trouble ahead for passengers. Roughly half of all trips by the country's biggest airline - including its 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 - over 52 per cent of scheduled flights - stand in contrast to numbers from other Canadian carriers including WestJet, Air Transat and Flair Airlines, which registered lower flight disruption levels. They also mark an uptick from the previous weekend, despite an unexpected shortage of air traffic controllers at Nav Canada that snarled travel during that period. Posts and photos of snaking lines and bulging terminals at the main Toronto and Montreal airports popped up on social media over the past few days, as passengers vented their frustrations about late takeoffs and customer service in a throwback to scenes of post-pandemic airport chaos a year ago. The air travel sector is now in the throes of its summer peak, with 600,000 customers boarding Air Canada planes between this past Friday and Monday, the company said. Nonetheless, disruption figures have been trending upward over the past few weeks, said John Gradek, who teaches at McGill University's aviation management program. Crowded flight schedules and crew shortages play a role in peak season, he said, since it's harder to find a spare plane or pilot to fill a gap when each aircraft is flying more. “There's a lot of people flying, planes are full, and there's there's very little operational reliability or operational backup,” Gradek said. “If an airplane craps out, for whatever reason - mechanical things do happen - you've got to fix the airplane before you go. So you automatically take these monstrous delays or you cancel.” Air Canada pointed out that it may take longer to recover from a wrench in the gears, particularly when a network is running at full tilt. “As with any system operating at capacity, slowdowns can occur and there is ... less flexibility, which can result in delays and slow recovery from unplanned events,” spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said in an email.<br/>
