Cirium stats show that roughly 50% of Air Canada’s flights were on schedule during the last two weeks of June and the first two weeks of July in general. Meanwhile, about 36% of WestJet flights landed within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time.
These numbers are at a significant disadvantage compared to the on-time performance ratios of between 60% and 80% of the five largest airlines in the United States.
On the other hand, the data also shows that between 93% and 98% of the two Canadian carriers’ planes arrived at the gate less than two hours late, indicating that Air Canada and WestJet still have a better track record than during the travel chaos of summer 2022.
John Gradec, a lecturer in the Aviation Management Program at McGill University, believes airlines are overusing their planes and leaving too little time for aircraft maintenance, which is creating problems that cripple passengers across Canada.
Throughout his career, John Graddick has held positions with Air Canada in operations, marketing and planning.
Companies included in this post: Air Canada (TSX: AC), WestJet (TSX: WJA)
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