Nearly 2,000 Air Canada flights delayed, cancelled over long weekend
MONTREAL –
Air Canada delayed or cancelled practically 2,000 flights over the Canada Day lengthy weekend in what one knowledgeable mentioned might be a style of extra troubles forward for passengers.
Roughly half of all journeys by the nation’s greatest airline — together with its lower-cost Air Canada Rouge and regional companion Jazz Aviation — had been disrupted Saturday by Monday, based on figures from monitoring service FlightAware.
The 1,965 flight delays and cancellations stand in distinction to figures from another Canadian carriers reminiscent of WestJet, Air Transat and Flair Airlines, which registered decrease flight disruption ranges.
They additionally mark an uptick from the earlier weekend, regardless of an unplanned scarcity of air site visitors controllers at Nav Canada that snarled the journey plans of hundreds throughout that interval.
Posts and images of snaking traces and bulging terminals at airports in Toronto and Montreal plastered social media over the previous few days, as passengers vented their frustration about late takeoffs and customer support in a throwback to scenes of post-pandemic airport chaos a yr in the past.
“It is a sea of humanity and mayhem at the Montreal airport this afternoon,” passenger Andrew Holland mentioned in a Twitter submit Monday night.
“Stranded bags and delayed flights and huge lineup for taxis. Makes the experience at Pearson in Toronto last week feel like a picnic.”
Air Canada identified that the air journey sector is now within the throes of its summer season peak, with 140,000-plus prospects boarding the airline’s planes day by day.
“Our top priority is to ensure everyone travels safely, even if it requires extra time,” spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick mentioned in an e-mail.
Bloated flight schedules and fewer spare planes play a job in journey turmoil, mentioned John Gradek, who teaches at McGill University’s aviation administration program, including that disruption figures are trending upward.
“There’s a lot of people flying, planes are full, and there’s very little operational reliability or operational backup,” Gradek mentioned.
“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 is operating a extra “tightly wound” schedule after the income collapse prompted by COVID-19 journey restrictions, Gradek added, with the corporate working at roughly 90 per cent of its pre-pandemic flight capability.
The service echoed that message, declaring the way it could take longer to get well from a wrench within the gears of any system working at full tilt.
“For example, when thunderstorms halt our operation, as we saw over the recent weekend in the U.S. northeast, we may require more time than scheduled to get aircraft into position for their next flights,” Fitzpatrick mentioned.
He added that Air Canada is totally staffed, with extra staff than in the summertime of 2019, regardless of operating fewer flights.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed July 4, 2023.
