Air Canada will cut dozens of daily flights this summer as the airline grapples with a series of challenges amid the soaring need for travel. The changes would see Air Canada reduce its schedule by 77 round trips — or 154 flights — on average, each day during July and August.
“Regrettably, things are not business as usual in our industry globally, and this is affecting our operations and our ability to serve you with our normal standards of care,” Michael Rousseau, the airline’s president, and CEO told in a report released Wednesday.
- “The COVID‑19 pandemic brought the world air transport system to a halt in early 2020. Now, after more than two years, international travel is resurgent, and people are returning to flying at a rate never seen in our industry.”
Rousseau said those factors are causing “unprecedented and unforeseen strains on all parts of the global aviation system,” leading to flight delays and crowded airport spaces. It’s also spurring the airline to make “meaningful reductions” to its summer schedule “to reduce passenger volumes and flows to a level we believe the air transport system can accommodate,” he told.
Air Canada was operating about 1,000 flights per day
Before these reductions, Air Canada was operating about 1,000 flights per day, said Peter Fitzpatrick, an airline spokesperson.
“Three routes will be temporarily stopped between Montreal and Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Kelowna, and one from Toronto to Fort McMurray,” Fitzpatrick told. Most flights affected by the changes are out of its Toronto and Montreal hubs, he told.
“These will be especially frequency reductions, affecting mainly evening and late-night flights by smaller aircraft, on transborder and domestic routes,” he told.
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But he told, “international flights are unaffected, with a few timing changes to reduce flying at peak times and even out the customer flow.” Rousseau, the airline president, told Air Canada did what it could to prepare for these challenges, but it has to adjust its operations to the current circumstances.
“This was not an easy decision, as it will result in more flight revocations that will hurt some customers,” Rousseau told.
“But doing this in advance permits affected customers to take time to make other arrangements in an orderly manner, rather than have their travel disrupted soon before or during their travels, with few alternatives available.”
Rousseau offered his “sincere apologies” to customers for any delays they have faced or will face.
“I also assure you that we very obviously see the challenges at hand, that we are taking action, and that we are assured we have the strategy to address them,” he told. “This is our company’s chief focus at every level.”
A majority of domestic flights have been delayed at some of the country’s busiest airports in recent days, according to the analytics firm Data Wazo.
Data Wazo says 54 percent of flights to six large airports — Montreal, Calgary, Toronto’s Pearson and Billy Bishop airports, Ottawa, and Halifax — were bumped off schedule in the seven days between June 22 and 28.
Airlines and the federal government
Some 38 percent of the flights were delayed while 16 percent were scrapped altogether.
Airlines and the federal government have been scrambling to respond to scenes of endless lines, flight disruptions, and daily turmoil at airports — particularly at Pearson — an issue the aviation industry has blamed on a lack of federal security and customs officers.
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