Flight delays at Canadian airlines far outstrip peers in U.S., despite improvements

MONTREAL — Canada's two biggest airlines saw a far higher proportion of their flights delayed this summer than many of their American peers, according to figures from an aviation data firm.In comparison, 64 per cent of WestJet's 14,998 flights touched down late.

Several reasons underlie the ongoing tarmac tardiness, which falls well below the general industry goal of 80 per cent on-time flights. Half of Air Canada's 18 A330 wide-bodies and most of its 76 Airbus A319, A320 and A321 narrow-bodies — more than 40 per cent of its fleet — are well over two decades old.

Some weekends in June and July of 2022 saw Air Canada top the global chart for delays, repeatedly hitting two-thirds and far outpacing other carriers as complaints of hours-long hold-ups or cancellations littered social media. Toronto's Pearson airport also ranked as the delay capital of the world on multiple occasions.

That time circling above the runway can also tack on hours to flight crews' shifts each week, pushing them closer to their 28-day cap and leaving less leeway for them to plug labour gaps by month's end. Nonetheless, carriers have fewer outside factors to blame than during the post-pandemic travel tumult of 2022.

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