Crowd of passengers waiting to check in for their flight at Pearson International Airport in … [+] Ontario, Canada. Pearson International Airport is Canada’s largest and busiest airport. )
Air Canada announced on Friday that it “is now making meaningful reductions in our schedule in July and August to reduce passenger volume and flows to a level we believe the air transport system can accommodate.” These reductions will have a significant impact on summer travel in July and August.
The announcement was in response to growing national and international news reports that set Air Canada’s record of cancellations and delays among some of the worst recorded in the world at present.
Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra calls airport issues “unacceptable”
Lately, Air Canada has also been met with even more criticism due to outstanding reports of late and misplaced luggage.
All this negative publicity led to the President and CEO of Air Canada, Michael Rousseau, sending Air Canada’s customers an email on Wednesday to address concerns about the airline’s performance.
The e-mail states that “At Air Canada, we know how important travel plans are. This is even more the case today when many take their first trip in several years after the pandemic. Whether it’s long-awaited vacations, visits to relatives and friends or for business, we are grateful and recognize our responsibility when people like you leave the journey to our airline.
Unfortunately, things are not business as usual in our industry globally, and this affects our business and our ability to serve you with our normal standards of care. The Covid-19 pandemic stopped the world’s air transport system in early 2020. Now, after more than two years, global tourism is about to resurface and people are returning to flying at a speed never seen in our industry.
This increase in travel has created unique and unforeseen burdens on all aspects of the global aviation system. Around the world, there are repeated incidents of flight delays and congestion at airports, as a result of a complex series of persistent factors affecting airlines and our partners in the aviation ecosystem. Similar effects are also seen in other industries, where companies and suppliers are struggling to restart, free up supply chains and meet pent-up demand.
At Air Canada, we anticipated many of these factors and began to take concrete action during the depths of the pandemic to be ready for a rapid restart. Yet, despite detailed and careful planning, the largest and fastest hiring in our history, as well as investments in aircraft and equipment, it is now clear that Air Canada’s operations have also been disrupted by the industry’s complex and inevitable challenges. The result has been flight cancellations and a lack of customer service on our part that we would never have meant for our customers or our employees, and which we strongly apologize for. “
CEO Michael Rousseau announced that Air Canada will cancel flights during the summer
CEO Michael Rousseau then went on to address how Canada’s largest airline would respond to these growing problems by reducing the number of flights. The e-mail continues to note that “In response, we took a number of important steps, including the introduction of flexible ticketing policies, new tools for self-management of travel, improvements to airport operations, as well as adjustments to our schedule – all to strengthen operational resilience and provide customers, but in order to achieve the level of operational stability we need, reluctantly, we are now making significant reductions in our schedule in July and August to reduce passenger volume and flows to a level we believe the air transport system can accommodate.
This was not an easy decision, as it will result in further cancellations of flights that will have a negative impact on some customers. However, doing this in advance allows affected customers to take the time to make other arrangements in an orderly manner, instead of having travel interruptions shortly before or during the trip, with few options available. It will also enable us to serve all customers more reliably.
Air Canada has not yet talked about possible compensation for passengers whose flights have been … [+] canceled.
I can assure you that Air Canada also works closely with airports, government agencies and its third party service providers, all of which strive to bring the industry back to pre-pandemic standards of operation.
We are convinced that these changes will lead to the improvements we have targeted. But to set expectations, it should also be understood that the real benefits of this action will take time and be felt only gradually as the industry regains the reliability and robustness it had achieved before the pandemic.
On behalf of all of us at Air Canada, please accept my sincere apologies for any disruption you have experienced or may experience with your travel plans during this unique period. I also assure you that we see the challenges very clearly, that we are taking action, and that we are confident that we have the strategy to meet them. This is the company’s main focus at all levels. “
Air Canada has not yet explained what kind of compensation passengers with canceled flights will be offered. For more information, visit the Air Canada website.
