Business
Demand for travel is high. Here’s what’s expected at Canada’s airports this summer
|
|
Remember the images of travel from last summer and the more recent winter holidays? The lost bags, long waits on tarmacs and piles of luggage in arrivals? Some of Canada’s airports are promising travellers those scenes won’t be the norm this summer.
“We have heard our customers,” said Greater Toronto Airports Authority president and CEO Deborah Flint at Pearson International Monday. “The anxiety, the uncertainty, the frustration, and the lack of control that was felt by passengers last year is one that we will never forget.”
With almost all COVID-19-related travel restrictions lifted, it’s expected that the pent-up desire to get away will result in even higher numbers of Canadians travelling by air over the coming months.
“Demand is really, really strong,” said travel agent Ken Stewart, owner of Crowfoot Travel Solutions in Calgary. “Everybody started to travel again last year. And those who didn’t get away last year are adding to the numbers that are getting away this year.”
Stewart says that demand is being seen right across the board heading into summer — with people wanting to fly domestically, to the U.S., to Europe and even still to sun destinations.
What’s happening at YYZ (Toronto)
Pearson, Canada’s largest airport, last summer saw overflowing baggage halls, stranded passengers, flight delays and cancellations. But Flint says things will be different this year.
Last summer, on-time performance was at just 35 per cent, she said. “Currently, our airlines are departing with 70 per cent on-time performance statistics,” she said.
Over the past year, Pearson has hired 10,000 new employees — an increase of almost 22 per cent — for a total of 50,000 workers — about on par with 2019 levels. That includes 130 new staff announced last week to help in critical areas at Pearson such as busing, baggage handling and terminal operations.
Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra was grilled by members of a parliamentary committee today about why the government hasn’t done more to alleviate the months of airport chaos that Canadian travellers have been facing.
The airport expects about 80 per cent of the summer traffic it saw before the pandemic — an increase of about 10 per cent over last year. And Flint says employees are now more experienced, too.
“Last year, we saw an environment where there was rapid hiring,” she said, referring to the period just after many travel restrictions were lifted and there was a huge surge in air travel. She attributed some of the slow-downs in certain processing areas of the airport to inexperience.
“This is a very complicated business for an entry employee to work,” Flint said. “It’s highly regulatory and complex, so learning that environment day one or day two or week two on the job is very difficult.”
Key systems have also been upgraded. The airport has streamlined its contactless check-in and boarding processes through a new partnership with the Canada Border Services Agency to deploy biometric e-gates and speed up customs clearance for travellers.
The airport is also using artificial intelligence to better manage passengers’ checked bags.
What’s happening at YUL (Montreal)
Montréal–Trudeau International Airport says it has also been working to increase staffing levels and will complete improvements to its baggage-handling systems and connecting passenger facilities in June. It expects summer passenger traffic to return to 2019 levels, when the airport saw six million travellers from June to August.
“Obviously, given the high number of passengers expected this summer, it is possible that there will be a little more waiting than usual during peak hours, especially in the early morning and late afternoon and evening,” said Aéroports de Montréal communications adviser Eric Forest in an email to CBC News.
The airport is encouraging passengers to use all of the technology available to them to make the process smoother. That includes YUL Express, which lets travellers pre-book passage through the security checkpoints, and Mobile Passport Control, an app that allows people to submit passport information and customs declaration in advance of U.S. departures.
What’s happening at YVR (Vancouver)
Vancouver’s YVR says it expects August will be its busiest summer month, but is anticipating an average of 81,000 passengers to pass through its doors each day of summer — about on par with pre-COVID numbers.
“In preparation, we have worked with airlines as they’ve developed their summer schedules to make sure we are ready to get passengers where they want to go safely and efficiently,” a YVR spokesperson said in a statement emailed to CBC News.
The airport says it’s reviewing each area of its operations and service to match summer demand, a move that followed last winter’s service disruptions.
What’s happening at YYC (Calgary)
While Calgary’s airport did not didn’t experience the kinds of delays other hubs did last year, president and CEO Bob Sartor says with high demand across the country, there’s always potential for spill-over effects.
“I think there’s going to be hiccups here and there. There’s only so many agency staff that are available from the federal government,” he said in Calgary last week.
“It’s going to be a question of managing flight flow. You know, air carriers like to operate on peaks… and we have to make sure that those peaks are not so high that they can’t be properly serviced.”
What the airlines are planning
Air Canada says it is taking “a prudent approach” to scheduling this summer, planning to operate 90 per cent of its pre-pandemic summer 2019 schedule. “Despite less flying, we actually have more people on staff than in summer 2019 and this should further help with resiliency,” a spokesperson for the airline said in an email.
“We have added resources and taken other measures too, such as adjusting our schedule to create more connection time for customers and to flatten out peak flying periods during the day for better customer flow.”
A looming concern for some travellers is potential labour unrest at Canada’s other major airline, WestJet.
About 1,850 WestJet pilots with the Air Line Pilots Association are poised to strike as of May 16, which could result in anything from refusal to do overtime to a full-blown strike.
It’s not clear what that could mean for people who already have travel booked with WestJet, but Sylvie De Bellefeuille, a lawyer with Option Consommateurs, a nonprofit organization promoting consumer rights, told CBC News last week that she believes refunds should be offered.
How travellers and travel agents are strategizing
Avid traveller Sarah Pew says after a frustrating hours-long long tarmac wait on an Air Canada flight in January, and no compensation, she and her husband decided to go with WestJet’s discount subsidiary Swoop for a June trip to the Dominican Republic.
She’s a little worried about it, but with inflation driving up the cost of airline tickets, it was all about the bottom line.
“We were like, let’s just give it a try,” she said. “Worst case scenario, we’re four hours late again, or a day delayed, but at least this is half the price.”
Stewart, the travel agent from Calgary, agrees prices are much higher than people might be used to due to inflation, higher jet fuel costs and sheer demand — but says in his experience, the actual airport experience, in terms of wait times and delays, has improved in recent months.
He suggests booking early to get the best prices, and to always buy travel insurance.
Pew says she and her husband have simply adopted a fatalistic approach to travel — expecting something will go wrong on every travel day.
“Whether we get bumped from our seats or our flight is delayed or we get pulled into secondary search, expect one thing to go wrong so that we’re not so frustrated and upset when it does.”
The federal government has announced several changes to the Air Passenger Bill of Rights, including closing loopholes that let airlines cancel or delay flights without giving compensation.
Are you flying somewhere this summer and worried about airport congestion or the price of flights? We want to hear your travel plans and any concerns you might have. Send an email to ask@cbc.ca to get in touch with us, or leave a comment.
Tesla has promised to start selling cheaper models next year, days after a Reuters report revealed that the company had shelved its plans for an all-new Tesla that would cost only $25,000.
The news that Tesla was scrapping the Model 2 came amid a drop in sales and profits, and a decision to slash a tenth of the company’s global workforce. Reuters also noted increased competition from Chinese EV makers.
Tesla’s deliveries slumped in the first quarter for the first annual drop since the start of the pandemic in 2020, missing analyst forecasts by a mile in a sign that even price cuts haven’t been able to stave off an increasingly heated competition on the EV market.
Profits dropped by 50%, disappointing investors and leading to a slump in the company’s share prices, which made any good news urgently needed. Tesla delivered: it said it would bring forward the date for the release of new, lower-cost models. These would be produced on its existing platform and rolled out in the second half of 2025, per the BBC.
Reuters cited the company as warning that this change of plans could “result in achieving less cost reduction than previously expected,” however. This suggests the price tag of the new models is unlikely to be as small as the $25,000 promised for the Model 2.
The decision is based on a substantially reduced risk appetite in Tesla’s management, likely affected by the recent financial results and the intensifying competition with Chinese EV makers. Shelving the Model 2 and opting instead for cars to be produced on existing manufacturing lines is the safer move in these “uncertain times”, per the company.
Tesla is also cutting prices, as many other EV makers are doing amid a palpable decline in sales in key markets such as Europe, where the phaseout of subsidies has hit demand for EVs seriously. The cut is of about $2,000 on all models that Tesla currently sells.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Article content
Divisions within the Bank of Canada over the timing of a much-anticipated cut to its key overnight interest rate stem from concerns of some members of the central bank’s governing council that progress on taming inflation could stall in the face of stronger domestic demand — or even pick up again in the event of “new surprises.”
“Some members emphasized that, with the economy performing well, the risk had diminished that restrictive monetary policy would slow the economy more than necessary to return inflation to target,” according to a summary of deliberations for the April 10 rate decision that were published Wednesday. “They felt more reassurance was needed to reduce the risk that the downward progress on core inflation would stall, and to avoid jeopardizing the progress made thus far.”
Article content
Others argued that there were additional risks from keeping monetary policy too tight in light of progress already made to tame inflation, which had come down “significantly” across most goods and services.
Some pointed out that the distribution of inflation rates across components of the consumer price index had approached normal, despite outsized price increases and decreases in certain components.
“Coupled with indicators that the economy was in excess supply and with a base case projection showing the output gap starting to close only next year, they felt there was a risk of keeping monetary policy more restrictive than needed.”
In the end, though, the central bankers agreed to hold the rate at five per cent because inflation remained too high and there were still upside risks to the outlook, albeit “less acute” than in the past couple of years.
Despite the “diversity of views” about when conditions will warrant cutting the interest rate, central bank officials agreed that monetary policy easing would probably be gradual, given risks to the outlook and the slow path for returning inflation to target, according to the summary of deliberations.
Article content
They considered a number of potential risks to the outlook for economic growth and inflation, including housing and immigration, according to summary of deliberations.
The central bankers discussed the risk that housing market activity could accelerate and further boost shelter prices and acknowledged that easing monetary policy could increase the likelihood of this risk materializing. They concluded that their focus on measures such as CPI-trim, which strips out extreme movements in price changes, allowed them to effectively look through mortgage interest costs while capturing other shelter prices such as rent that are more reflective of supply and demand in housing.
Recommended from Editorial
They also agreed to keep a close eye on immigration in the coming quarters due to uncertainty around recent announcements by the federal government.
“The projection incorporated continued strong population growth in the first half of 2024 followed by much softer growth, in line with the federal government’s target for reducing the share of non-permanent residents,” the summary said. “But details of how these plans will be implemented had not been announced. Governing council recognized that there was some uncertainty about future population growth and agreed it would be important to update the population forecast each quarter.”
• Email: bshecter@nationalpost.com
Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the business news you need to know — add financialpost.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.
Share this article in your social network
Shares in US tech giant Meta have sunk in US after-hours trading despite better-than-expected earnings.
The Facebook and Instagram owner said expenses would be higher this year as it spends heavily on artificial intelligence (AI).
Its shares fell more than 15% after it said it expected to spend billions of dollars more than it had previously predicted in 2024.
Meta has been updating its ad-buying products with AI tools to boost earnings growth.
It has also been introducing more AI features on its social media platforms such as chat assistants.
The firm said it now expected to spend between $35bn and $40bn, (£28bn-32bn) in 2024, up from an earlier prediction of $30-$37bn.
Its shares fell despite it beating expectations on its earnings.
First quarter revenue rose 27% to $36.46bn, while analysts had expected earnings of $36.16bn.
Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said its spending plans were “aggressive”.
She said Meta’s “substantial investment” in AI has helped it get people to spend time on its platforms, so advertisers are willing to spend more money “in a time when digital advertising uncertainty remains rife”.
More than 50 countries are due to have elections this year, she said, “which hugely increases uncertainty” and can spook advertisers.
She added that Meta’s “fortunes are probably also being bolstered by TikTok’s uncertain future in the US”.
Meta’s rival has said it will fight an “unconstitutional” law that could result in TikTok being sold or banned in the US.
President Biden has signed into law a bill which gives the social media platform’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to sell off the app or it will be blocked in the US.
Ms Lund-Yates said that “looking further ahead, the biggest risk [for Meta] remains regulatory”.
Last year, Meta was fined €1.2bn (£1bn) by Ireland’s data authorities for mishandling people’s data when transferring it between Europe and the US.
And in February of this year, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced blistering criticism from US lawmakers and was pushed to apologise to families of victims of child sexual exploitation.
Ms Lund-Yates added that the firm has “more than enough resources to throw at legal challenges, but that doesn’t rule out the risks of ups and downs in market sentiment”.
Deutsche Bank's Investment Bankers Step Up as Rate Boost Fades – Yahoo Canada Finance
Tesla Promises Cheap EVs by 2025 | OilPrice.com – OilPrice.com
Forget Trump — the American media is on trial in New York – The Hill
Silver investment demand jumped 12% in 2019
12 Bizarre Things People Did Just To Make Social Media Content
Global Media Markets, 2015-2020, 2020-2025F, 2030F – TV and Radio Broadcasting, Film and Music, Information Services, Web Content, Search Portals And Social Media, Print Media, & Cable – GlobeNewswire
-
News24 hours ago
Amid concerns over ‘collateral damage’ Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
-
Art21 hours ago
The unmissable events taking place during London’s Digital Art Week
-
News23 hours ago
What is a halal mortgage? How interest-free home financing works in Canada
-
Politics16 hours agoOpinion: Fear the politicization of pensions, no matter the politician
-
Economy21 hours ago
German Business Outlook Hits One-Year High as Economy Heals
-
Media15 hours ago
B.C. puts online harms bill on hold after agreement with social media companies
-
Politics15 hours ago
Pecker’s Trump Trial Testimony Is a Lesson in Power Politics
-
Media13 hours ago
Trump poised to clinch US$1.3-billion social media company stock award
