Air Canada ranks last in on-time performance among major North American airlines in 2023, according to a report from aviation data firm Cirium.
Last year, Canada’s largest airline arrived on time for 63% of its flights. The company is therefore in last place among the 10 largest airlines in North America. About 140,000 planes arrived late at the gate (more than 15 minutes after the scheduled time).
This figure was five percentage points lower than that of the second and third lowest carriers, JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines, respectively.
WestJet, Canada’s other major carrier, ranked seventh with an on-time rate of 69%.
Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines leads with a rate of 85%, followed by Alaska Airlines, with 82%.
Air Canada explains it
Air Canada says these results reflect the challenges that have affected Canadian airlines throughout the year.
However, our operations have steadily improved, so much so that by the end of the year our monthly on-time performance had improved by more than 10 percentage points compared to July, a significant increase, its spokesman, Peter Fitzpatrick, said in an e-mail. email.
Reducing the number of delayed and canceled flights remains a priority for the company, he added.
In the past, Air Canada has noted that air traffic controller shortages, weather conditions and a network operating at full capacity amid high demand could lead to longer times before recovering from a period of disruption.
President and CEO Michael Rousseau admitted that Air Canada’s on-time rate was lower than usual, especially after a wave of flight delays in June and July.
Winter obstacles
Even with greater investments in people and technology, the carrier’s operations have not always met expectations, he told analysts on a conference call in August.
Air Canada’s top boss blamed its difficulties on adverse weather conditions – thunderstorms in particular – and global supply chain problems. We spend a lot of time improving our punctuality, he insisted.
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Michael Rousseau has been CEO of Air Canada since February 2021.
He also acknowledged that high occupancy rates – when nearly all seats on planes are reserved – led to ripple effects after flight cancellations, as passengers rushed to rebook with competitors and could arrive hours or days later later than expected.
There may be other reasons for the delays. The cold climate in Canada means, for example, that planes have to be de-iced as early as October, that runways have to be cleared of snow and that landing and take-off times are later.
Winter obstacles make it difficult to achieve on-time rates in Canada similar to those seen in the United States.
Relatively mild temperatures across the country during the holidays allowed most passengers to travel smoothly. This result contrasts with reports of difficult travel last year, when thousands of passengers saw their flights delayed or cancelled, largely due to poor weather conditions.
2024-01-03 08:16:35
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