"We're not seeing any evidence of a slowdown," he said during a conference call Tuesday, but acknowledged the recent "difficult period for some of our customers."
The CEO's comments come after months of global industry turbulence as airlines, airports and governments struggled to cope with a massive travel resurgence that unleashed scenes of chaos in terminals worldwide and hit
With summer travel season nearly back in full swing, the
Those higher expenses — nearly five per cent above expectations — drove greater-than-expected losses of
However, advance ticket sales hit 94 per cent of 2019 levels and remain strong despite recession alarm bells, the company said.
Customer volume shot up to 9.1 million passengers in the quarter ended
Staff numbers closed out the quarter at 90 per cent of the pre-pandemic payroll,
"But despite all the planning, the increased traffic has created difficulties for all participants in the air transport system, a situation that we're seeing around the globe," Rousseau said.
He said "we deeply regret" the disruptions passengers have endured, while chief operations officer
But Landry also pointed the finger at various industry players for the cascade of cancellations and other hiccups, citing staff shortages in areas ranging from security and customs screening to food. Mechanical failures in airport baggage systems also played a role in the constant luggage mishaps that have plagued passengers in recent months, he added.
As travellers returned — and faced nerve-fraying delays — the cost of covering their hotel stays, food vouchers and late luggage deliveries contributed to a heftier per-customer cost.
"There was a lot more money paid to either re-accommodate passengers or to look after them," said
"Anybody that touches Pearson,
Rousseau cited "all of the various passenger-related expenses" as well as wages — staffing shortages have necessitated more overtime rate payments, unions say — but said the "second half of the year will be where we make it all up."
The difficult summer ramp-up pushed
However, its performance has improved markedly in the past four weeks after the company scaled back its ambitious rebound plans and slashed more than 15 per cent of its scheduled flights in July and August, affecting hundreds of thousands of customers.
While leisure travel has come roaring back, corporate trips have been slower to return, climbing from 40 per cent of pre-pandemic volumes in March to more than 60 per cent by the end of June, Guillemette said.
"The choppiness of the recovery is not entirely unexpected,"
Demand in both areas fell off sharply in
Until
Fully vaccinated Americans could not cross the border for non-essential reasons until
The year-over-year comparison was particularly stark this quarter.
The
The outcome fell 94 per cent below analysts' expectations of
This report by
Companies in this story: (TSX:AC)
© 2022 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved., source