Air Canada has reported a robust begin to the summer travel season. Between May nineteenth and May twenty second, over 540,000 passengers flew with the airline, which equated to a median load factor of 95%.
Despite the busy long weekend, which traditionally marks the beginning of the Canadian summer travel season, the flag carrier’s operational performance remained robust, with a flight completion rate of 98.7%. Air Canada will little doubt be hoping to take care of such momentum throughout the remaining of the summer.
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The airline’s Senior Vice President for Global Airports and Operational Control, Kevin O’Connor, summarized and celebrated the weekend’s performance, saying,
“I’m very happy by the performance of our airline throughout the first long weekend of the summer. We carried heavy loads, with 540,000 customers, and our mainline aircraft 95% full on Friday, yet we achieved a flight completion ratio of 98.7% and a solid on-time performance that reached 90 percent Sunday morning. Although system-wide weather was favorable, we did face several challenges, including wildfires in Western Canada, weather disruptions within the southern US, and even a volcano in Mexico that every one affected flights.”
A powerful begin to the summer
Although Air Canada recently reported a $17 million loss in the primary quarter, the airline has doubled its revenue in comparison with the identical period last yr, putting it in a robust position to interrupt whilst the busy summer season begins.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
In a show of confidence for the airline’s performance this summer, O’Connor went on so as to add,
“While sustained high passenger a great deal of the season are yet to totally arrive, our success throughout the first holiday weekend gives us added confidence that we’re able to perform well this summer.”
Ongoing expansion for Air Canada
As travel rebounds from the impact of the pandemic, Air Canada has been busy resuming, commencing, and upping frequencies on plenty of domestic and international routes, including connecting Saint John’s (YYT) to its hubs in Montreal (YUL) and Toronto (YYZ) every day. On the latter, Air Canada will go head-to-head with each WestJet and Porter Airlines.
Other notable upcoming route launches for the Star Alliance founding member include Montreal to Toulouse (TLS), Amsterdam (AMS), and Copenhagen (CPH), starting at first of June, followed by Vancouver (YVR) to Dubai (DXB) on October twenty eighth.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
To support its future growth, the airline is believed to be on the cusp of signing a cope with Boeing for as much as 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, ready for the expected boom in long-haul travel following the pandemic. They may join Air Canada’s existing fleet of 38 Boeing 787s. Data from ch-aviation shows that the airliner currently operates eight 787-8s and 30 787-9s, with an additional two of the larger 787-9 variant still to be delivered.
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