Air Canada Ranks Last

[Jaydee]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-performance-on-time-1.7072663

 

Canada's biggest carrier landed 63% of its flights on time in 2023

 

Air Canada notched the worst on-time performance among 10 large airlines in North America in 2023, according to a new report.

The country's biggest carrier landed 63 per cent of its flights on time last year, placing it last among the continent's 10 largest airlines, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm.

That means roughly 140,000 planes rolled up to the gate more than 15 minutes after scheduled arrival.

The score was five percentage points below the second- and third-lowest carriers, JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines.

• Air Canada fined $97.5K for failing to assist passenger in wheelchair

• Finding room for carry-on baggage has become 'the Hunger Games' of air travel, analyst says

Canada's other major airline, WestJet, placed seventh in North America with a score of 69 per cent.

The best results came from Delta Air Lines, which ranked first at 85 per cent, followed by Alaska Airlines at 82 per cent.

Comparably, a ranking of European counterparts placed Dutch carrier KLM in the 10th spot with a score of 76 per cent, 13 points higher than Air Canada.

Low ranking a 'wake-up call': expert  

Air Canada said the rankings reflect the challenges that affected carriers in Canada through the year. 

"However, our operation has been consistently improving so that by year-end our monthly on-time performance showed a double-digit improvement over July, a significant increase," a spokesperson for Air Canada told CBC News in a statement, which noted that the company's focus remains on "further raising" on-time performance in 2024. 

John Lawford, the executive director and general counsel of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) in Ottawa, said that the on-time percentage metric is one that matters a lot to consumers.

"It would seem to be a good wake up call for Air Canada to improve the on-time percentage," Lawford told CBC News. "It would probably reduce their consumer delay and cancellation complaints as well, and to the extent that they can spend to do that, that's what consumers would probably prefer."

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), an independent regulatory body that mediates and resolves disputes between airlines and passengers, has been working through a backlog of complaints.

The grievances, many of them against Air Canada, have piled up since a 2019 federal regulation changed compensation entitlements for passengers whose flights had been delayed by three hours or more. 

• Air Canada offering cash or vouchers to settle compensation claims it says are baseless

Air Canada has been offering cash and vouchers to settle with a selection of passengers who've made complaints through the CTA, though some consumers have said they're being low-balled by the airline.

But the best way to avoid delay complaints, says Lawford, is to run the airline on time. 

CEO acknowledged low ranking

In the past, Air Canada has pointed to a shortage of air traffic controllers, bad weather and a network running at full tilt amid high demand, which can mean longer recovery times after a disruption.

CEO Michael Rousseau has acknowledged Air Canada's relatively low ranking, including after a wave of flight delays in June and July.

Despite more staff and revamped technology, the carrier's operations failed to meet "expected levels," he told analysts on a conference call in August.

The chief executive identified "severe weather" — in particular thunderstorms — and global supply chain issues among the culprits.

"We're spending a lot of time improving our on-time performance," he said.

Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau has acknowledged the airline's low ranking in on-time flights, saying in August that the carrier's operations failed to meet 'expected levels.' (Bloomberg)

Rousseau cited April and May as "very solid" and the subsequent two months as worse, when about half of all flights were late.

He also acknowledged that high load factors — when all planes are almost fully booked — result in more "spilling traffic" when flights are cancelled, as passengers scramble to rebook with competitors and may arrive hours or days later than planned.

Weather plays a part in delays 

Other reasons can account for delays.

The cold weather in Canada means planes need to be de-iced as early as October, runways need to be cleared of snow, and landing and takeoff times are more spread out.

The frosty hurdles make achieving parallel on-time performance north of the border a challenge.

However, fairly mild temperatures across the country over the holidays meant that most passengers enjoyed smooth sailing.

That outcome stood in contrast to the tales of travel nightmares from 12 months earlier, when thousands of passengers saw their flights delayed or cancelled, largely due to poor weather.

With files from CBC News

[conehead]

Unacceptable.

[Malcolm]

I would rather see a stat that talks about the connecting flights that were missed.   I donot care if my arrival flight is late or whatever, what counts is did I make my connecting flight and did my checked baggage arrive with me at my destination!!!

[Seeker]

I wonder how much can be attributed to having bases in YYZ and YUL?  That's certainly part of the problem they have.

[Kip Powick]

13 hours ago, Malcolm said:

I would rather see a stat that talks about the connecting flights that were missed.   I donot care if my arrival flight is late or whatever, what counts is did I make my connecting flight and did my checked baggage arrive with me at my destination!!!

Good point about arrival time but then again, as we are retired, arriving on time is not a big deal. 

Re -connecting flights .One of the problems is the customers personal  lack of knowledge about the ins and outs of airports. With connecting flights many feel that if they arrive on time at STOP # 1 there will be no problem  with boarding PART #2 so they do not allow themselves sufficient time to get to their next gate. I actually had a friend ask me if there was  enough time to get their next flight and that they had 30 minutes between flights at OHR. Under super ideal times, that might work but at some airports, for example  OHR, MIA, EWR  you might  need a Harley Screaming Eagle to make such a connection.

If I have to connect, I try to have 2 hours between flights , minimum.......don't need any undue stress.

 

Question.....On You Tube I have watched a few "unruly"  passengers  get taken off a flight, prior to departure  by the police.  In some cases the cops just take the person and in other cases all passengers have to deplane before the cops take the culprit off the aircraft and then reboard....

Why the difference in getting the subject off?? Different airline policies ??

 

[neverminds]

Air Canada mainline(and Rouge) were not the real culprit here, the vast majority of cancellations and delays were attributed to Jazz, which for several months in the summer of 2023 had the worst OTP and most cancellations of any airline IN THE WORLD. The causes were the inability to attract or retain pilots. 

[deicer]

[boestar]

18 hours ago, neverminds said:

Air Canada mainline(and Rouge) were not the real culprit here, the vast majority of cancellations and delays were attributed to Jazz, which for several months in the summer of 2023 had the worst OTP and most cancellations of any airline IN THE WORLD. The causes were the inability to attract or retain pilots. 

Jazz is training pilots at breakneck speeds.  In unprecedented numbers.  Problem is they all go to AC once trained due to the flow through agreement.   Jazz OTP is directly controlled by AC.

[neverminds]

2 hours ago, boestar said:

Jazz is training pilots at breakneck speeds.  In unprecedented numbers.  Problem is they all go to AC once trained due to the flow through agreement.   Jazz OTP is directly controlled by AC.

AC was not prepared for the loss of experienced Jazz Embraer  Captains to Porter last year. AC does control the flow of Jazz pilots(mostly FOs) to mainline but the loss of experienced Captains to carriers outside the AC network(Porter)was something they were wholly unprepared for. It was a result of the significant pay increase Porter was offering direct entry Captains. And because of the abysmal pay for new hires at Jazz, the only new hire candidates Jazz could attract were extremely low time pilots, all at least two years away from being “captain ready”.  There was a slight pay bump given to the Jazz pilots in September of last year, but not nearly enough to fix this existential problem