Nearly 2,000 Air Canada flights delayed, cancelled over long weekend

Air Canada AC-T delayed or canceled nearly 2,000 flights over the Canada Day long weekend in what one expert said could spell more trouble ahead for passengers.

Almost half of all flights on the country’s largest airlines – including cheaper 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 contrasted with figures from other Canadian carriers such as WestJet, Air Transat and Flair Airlines, which registered lower levels of flight disruptions.

They also marked an increase from last week, despite an unplanned shortage of air traffic controllers at Nav Canada that disrupted the travel plans of thousands during that period.

Posts and photos of snaking lines and bulging terminals at Toronto and Montreal airports have plastered social media over the past few days, as passengers vented their frustrations about late takeoffs and customer service at a past the scenes of post-pandemic airport chaos a year ago.

“It’s a sea of ​​people and chaos at the Montreal airport this afternoon,” passenger Andrew Holland said in a post on Twitter Monday night.

“Stranded bags and delayed flights and long lines of taxis. Made the Pearson experience in Toronto last week seem like a picnic.”

Air Canada points out that the air travel sector is now in its summer throes, with 140,000-plus customers boarding the airline’s flights every day.

“Our top priority is making sure everyone travels safely, even if it takes extra time,” spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said in an email.

Bloated flight schedules and fewer reserve planes have played a role in the travel chaos, said John Gradek, who teaches in McGill University’s aviation management program, adding that disruption numbers are increasing. .

“There are a lot of people flying, the planes are full, and there is very little operational reliability or operational backup,” Gradek said.

“When a plane crashes, for whatever reason – mechanical things happen – you have to fix the plane before you go. So you automatically take these many delays or you cancel.”

Air Canada is running a more “tightly wound” schedule after the collapse in revenue prompted by the COVID-19 travel restrictions, Gradek added, with the company operating at roughly 90 percent of flight capacity in there is no pandemic yet.

The carrier echoed that message, pointing out how it takes a long time to recover from a wrench in the gears of any system operating at full tilt.

“For example, if thunderstorms interrupt our operations, as we saw over the recent weekend in the US Northeast, we may need more time than scheduled to get the planes into position for their next flights,” Fitzpatrick said.

He added that Air Canada is fully staffed, with more employees than in the summer of 2019, despite running fewer flights.