The move will see 154 flights per day on average dropped from the airline's schedule — already operating at 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels — affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers. The flights link mainly to its
"This was not an easy decision, as it will result in additional flight cancellations that will have a negative impact on some customers," chief executive
"But doing this in advance allows affected customers to take time to make other arrangements in an orderly manner, rather than have their travel disrupted shortly before or during their journey, with few alternatives available."
The slimmed-down schedule is marked mainly by frequency reductions that affect evening and late-night flights on smaller planes,
Comparing backed-up airports and flight schedules to other global industries where companies "are struggling to restart, unclog supply chains and meetpent-updemand," Rousseau said
"Yet, despite detailed and careful planning, the largest and fastest scale of hiring in our history, as well as investments in aircraft and equipment, it is now clear that Air Canada’s operations too have been disrupted by the industry’s complex and unavoidable challenges," he said.
"The result has been flight cancellations and customer service shortfalls on our part that we would never have intended for our customers or for our employees, and for which we sincerely apologize."
Problems escalated across the airline sectorthis month, despite a federal hiring spree of security and customs officers and a pause on randomized COVID-19 testing, which had caused bottlenecks for international arrivals.
A majority of domestic flights to
Some 54 per cent of flights to the four largest airports were bumped off schedule in the seven days
Three
Before the changes it operated about 1,000 flights a day on average, the
Airlines and the federal government have been scrambling to respond to scenes of endless lines, flight disruptions, lost luggage and daily turmoil at airports — particularly at Pearson — a problem the aviation industry has blamed on a shortage of federal security and customs officers.
But
"It's a consequence of the delay in international flights," he said. "To delay a domestic flight is a lot easier because flying to major hubs in
Before
Kinks in one part of the air travel pipeline can snarl others, with overflowing customs areas stopping flight crews from disembarking, for example, or a lack of airline customer service agents exacerbating delays.
Luggage is an especially sticky problem, with a shortage of baggage handlers to shuttle suitcases from late arrivals to connecting planes amid last-minute gate changes.
Passengers say they receive last-minute emails informing them of repeated delays, aircraft changes or rebookings scheduled days after the original departure time. Reasons cited run the gamut from absent pilots to unplanned mechanical maintenance.
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