United today announces it will resume daily flying between San Francisco and Beijing this November and will increase flying to Shanghai with daily flights from San Francisco, starting October 1, 2023. These enhancements to United's Asia Pacific schedule are enabled by an agreement between the governments of the US and China to increase flights between the two countries. "We are grateful for this positive step forward in U.S. – China passenger air services, and we thank the many officials from both countries who partnered to make this reinstatement of air service possible," said Patrick Quayle, Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances. "This announcement is good news for United customers because we believe that a daily flight to Beijing and a daily flight to Shanghai from San Francisco is consistent with the demand we see in the market right now – especially since our ability to serve China nonstop from our mid-continent hubs or the East Coast is severely limited by Russian overflight restrictions."<br/>
star
A “perfect storm” of problems lies behind Air Canada’s wave of flight delays over the summer, its CEO said, even as the country’s largest airline roars back to profitability — with no sign of slowing down. Despite more staff and revamped technology, Air Canada’s operations in June and July failed to meet “expected levels,” Michael Rousseau told analysts on a conference call Friday. The CE identified “severe weather” — thunderstorms, in particular — and “global supply chain issues” as among the culprits. Tardiness and cancellations have especially plagued Air Canada’s large network of regional flights, run by Jazz Aviation. Rousseau pointed to a pilot shortage, which he boiled down to several factors: new carriers such as Flair Airlines and Lynx Air competing for labour; stricter regulations on shift length, “which causes all airlines in Canada to add 10 to 15% more pilots to fly the same schedule”; and dwindling enrolment at flight schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have this almost perfect storm that exists at this point in time,” Rousseau said. “We’re working hard with our partner, Jazz, on solving that problem right now ? but it will take some time to transition.” In spite of tens of thousands of flight delays in its second quarter, Air Canada posted earnings that soared to pre-pandemic levels amid strong travel demand and pricier fares. It reported net income of $838m last quarter compared with a loss of $386m a year earlier — and nearly a billion dollars in losses through all of 2022. Revenues grew more than a third to $5.43b, a record for the second quarter.<br/>