Travellers wait in line for Air Canada at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Toronto on July 2.Tijana Martin/The Globe and Mail
Canada’s two biggest airlines have the poorest on-time performance of the 10 big North American carriers, underlining that Canadian travellers are bearing the worst of the airport chaos and delays that have marred the restart of global air travel.
For the 30 days ending on July 3, Air Canada’s AC-T planes arrived as scheduled 38 per cent of the time, the poorest performance of the major airlines on the continent, according to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company. WestJet Airlines came in second last, arriving on time 54 per cent of the time.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines DAL-N, the world’s largest airline by sales, ranked first in the list with an 82-per-cent on-time performance. Alaska Airlines ALK-N came second at 81 per cent.
The poor showing of the Canadian companies signals the struggles the domestic industry is facing as it gears up after a long quiet period brought about by the pandemic.
Air travel in Britain, Europe, the United States and elsewhere has also been disrupted in recent months amid staff shortages and labour disputes, but the troubles at Canadian airports – particularly Toronto Pearson – stand out.
“This is a global problem, but the reason we’re seeing a worse than average situation in Canada is that we were slow to anticipate the renewal of travel,” said Ambarish Chandra, a professor at University of Toronto. “Airlines and the government were slow to anticipate that, but we were also absolutely too slow to drop restrictions.”
Ian Lee, a business professor at Carleton University, points to a lack of co-ordination and planning among the various companies and government agencies that work at the airports. He said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should have appointed a task force not long into the pandemic to oversee and manage the readiness of the various entities ahead of what was inevitable and foreseeable – the return of the travelling public in large numbers.
Instead, the Canadian aviation industry is served by larger than usual number of players – the airlines, contractors that load luggage and screen passengers, and the airport authorities and government agencies, including Transport Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) and Canada Border Services Agency (and its U.S. counterpart at some airports). “You have a lot of cooks in the kitchen,” Prof. Lee said by phone. “And it’s all affecting the outcome, the delivery of the passenger and the baggage on time.”
As the summer travel season heats up, the world’s airlines are scheduled this week to carry more than 100 million passengers, according to aviation consultancy OAG. This is the highest number since January, 2019, although the figure will drop as airlines cancel flights to alleviate the airport bottlenecks, OAG said.
Security agents at the eight largest Canadian airports conducted preflight checks on almost 156,000 people on July 3 as passenger volumes remain below 2019 levels. On June 30, agents checked almost 161,000 passengers, the most since Jan. 2, 2020. This was the eve of the pandemic that grounded much of the world’s airline industry as governments closed borders and imposed travel restrictions.
Air Canada last week said it will cut its schedule in July and August by more than 9,000 flights, or 10 per cent to 15 per cent. The cuts are mainly in Toronto and Montreal, hubs where the customer complaints about lineups and delays are loudest.
Air Canada’s on-time performance at Toronto Pearson lagged that of other airlines at the airport between April and June, even as the airport’s government agencies boosted staffing levels.
In a statement, Air Canada said the size of its operations means it is disproportionately affected by disruptions at Toronto Pearson, at which 55 per cent of its flights land. “Air Canada operates approximately 850 flights daily system-wide,” the airline said. “The overwhelming majority of scheduled flights operate each day and it consistently transports more than 125,000 people safely every day. The vast majority arrive at their destinations with their baggage.”
Between Friday and Monday, inclusive, WestJet cancelled 55 flights, including two for unplanned maintenance. The Calgary-based airline flew 2,234 flights in that time. “We have been able to stabilize our operation to prevent reactive cancellations, however, there remains significant operational challenges across the Canadian aviation ecosystem that can fall outside of our control, contributing to delays,” said Morgan Bell, a WestJet spokeswoman.
Airlines and the companies that load, refuel and service the planes schedule employees to work when the flow of passengers is the heaviest, typically in the morning and evenings. But when flights are delayed, this can push arrivals or departures into periods when there are not enough employees to unload the planes and process the passengers, said Dave Flowers, national president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents CATSA workers as well as Air Canada’s baggage handlers. So the delays cascade and affect other airports, Mr. Flowers said.
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HALIFAX – Ottawa is negotiating a $500-million bailout for Nova Scotia’s privately owned electric utility, saying the money will be used to prevent a big spike in electricity rates.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson made the announcement today in Halifax, saying Nova Scotia Power Inc. needs the money to cover higher costs resulting from the delayed delivery of electricity from the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric plant in Labrador.
Wilkinson says that without the money, the subsidiary of Emera Inc. would have had to increase rates by 19 per cent over “the short term.”
Nova Scotia Power CEO Peter Gregg says the deal, once approved by the province’s energy regulator, will keep rate increases limited “to be around the rate of inflation,” as costs are spread over a number of years.
The utility helped pay for construction of an underwater transmission link between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, but the Muskrat Falls project has not been consistent in delivering electricity over the past five years.
Those delays forced Nova Scotia Power to spend more on generating its own electricity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.
No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.
Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.
A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
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