As Canadian airports deal with their own set of problems amid the busy summer travel season, by no means are they alone.
Long lineups, cancelled flights, delays and lost luggage are issues infiltrating not just Canada’s major airports but those in other countries as well, one travel expert says.
“We’re seeing the exact same issues happening at all major airport hubs around the world,” Jennifer Weatherhead, founder of travelandstyle.ca, told CTV News Channel on Sunday.
“So Europe is facing a lot of these issues, the U.S. is definitely facing a lot of these issues, not just with flight delays but also with the cancellations, because they’re saying they don’t have enough pilots sometimes to fill up these flights and get people from place to place. So it’s a bit of an issue all around the world and I would keep that in mind.”
Weatherhead advises travellers to get to their departing airports as early as possible and check that their travel insurance covers trip cancellations, interruptions and lost or stolen baggage.
“Be prepared for delays at any point,” she said.
The aviation industry cut thousands of jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic as demand for travel plummeted. Now, with COVID-19 restrictions lifted in many jurisdictions, demand for travel has rebounded but staffing levels have not kept pace.
Travel in the U.S. has been particularly strained recently due to the Fourth of July holiday weekend, with airports seeing their largest crowds since the pandemic began more than two years ago.
The tracking site FlightAware reported more than 6,800 flight delays and another 587 cancellations at U.S. airports on Friday and more than 2,200 delays and 540 cancellations recorded as of late Saturday morning.
Airlines including Delta, Southwest and JetBlue have pared down their summer schedules to avoid further issues, something both Air Canada and WestJet have done, as well.
Outside North America, a technical breakdown on Saturday left at least 1,500 bags stuck at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, with 15 flights departing without luggage.
Airport workers are also on strike in France, demanding more hiring and pay to keep up with global inflation. Aviation authorities cancelled a number of flights as a result.
The airport also is advising travellers to arrive no more than four hours before their flight to ensure a “smooth flow” at check-in counters and security.
Richard Vanderlubbe, an Association of Canadian Travel Agencies director and president of tripcentral.ca, told CTV News Channel on Saturday that if a pilot or crew calls in sick, an airline has to scramble to find a qualified pilot for that particular aircraft.
Many people also left the airline and travel industry for other “safer havens,” he said.
“Of course, when we’re on restrictions and had all these restrictions for so long, expecting that things are going to come on like a light switch, its not very realistic,” he said.
Justus Smith told CTV News Channel on Sunday he booked a flight from Regina to Boston but had his connecting flight through Toronto cancelled on June 25.
He got a flight for the following morning and chose to spend the night at the airport.
Even though he was 13 hours early, Smith says he couldn’t get through customs more than four hours before his departure.
Smith says he eventually missed his flight after being delayed at customs and security.
He eventually got to Boston but says he didn’t receive his checked-in luggage.
Now a week later, Smith is still waiting to get his bags.
“I spent the week at a professional development course. I was the only one with shorts and a baseball cap because I didn’t have clothes,” he said.
Despite the situation, Smith did credit the airport staff for the work they’re doing under difficult circumstances.
“The individual airport workers, they’re amazing. Everyone’s doing the best they can,” he said.
“You see a lot of angry customers. It makes no sense to get angry. It’s frustrating, but you can’t take it out on the staff.”
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
