Summertime Fiasco: The Cancellations of Canadian Air Travel
Flying into the first normal summer since 2019, has been long-awaited for many Canadians. A summer where they can enjoy the few months of sun, beach-side tans, and non-restrictive journeys before treacherous winter months approach. Well, unfortunately, this has not been the case for Canadians who wish to travel abroad due to many flight cancellations.
During the pandemic, there were major restrictions on air travel in Canada due to the highly transmittable COVID-19 virus. As all restrictions have been lifted now, travellers have swarmed flight bookings to many destinations across the world. As a result of the sudden demand of air travel, many companies such as Air Canada have had to cancel approximatively 9500 flights for the summer of 2022.
In light of this problem, the airline industry claims that unprecedent strains have led to the cancellations and delays. But, there is speculation that the industry was knowingly unprepared for the resurgence of travellers and the result has led to thousands of cancelled and delayed flights, causing chaos for Canadian air travel.
Sorry…We Are Not Hiring
Due to the pandemic, many air travel staff were laid off, from pilots to check-in staff, regarding the major drop in demand and consistent air travel restrictions. Air Canada reported laying off 20,000 workers in 2020 and 3,200 workers in early 2021. Also, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which controls Toronto Pearson, reported laying off 27% of their staff in 2021. But, after the pandemic, Air Canada and the GTAA failed to bring back workers who were initially laid off and did not hire an efficient number of new staff to meet demand.
According to the Calgary Herald, all Canadian air travel companies combined are 29% below the required supply of staff compared to pre-pandemic staff supply, in relation to the 45% increase in travellers compared to the 2019 summer. These numbers showcase the marginal difference in the number of staff per traveller, and support claims that airports and airplanes are unable to support demand due to insufficient supply.
Staff shortages should have been aviation companies’ and the GTAA’s first priority once travel increased following the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions. Air Canada knew that the summer of 2022 would be one of the busiest from the past five years, yet they accolated funds towards research and development, rather than hiring efforts. Even if they considered hiring extra staff, it would have been beneficial to satisfy the influx of demand. The increase in staff and pilots would have solved the major issue of lost and misplaced luggage, cancelled flights, and increased the companies’ ability to create new flight routes to increase revenues.
New regulations and attention should have gone into the human resources of these air travel companies, and the Government of Canada is to be blamed for the lack of attention and halt in opening the country early back up for travellers.
The Government of Canada’s Checkmate
As COVID-19 spread across Canada in 2020, the Government of Canada and Health Canada instated many restrictions which have only recently have been lifted. Compared to the United States, Canada eased total air travel restrictions approximately 6 months after the United States: November 7th, 2021 for the United States and April 1st, 2022 for Canada. This delay hit the aviation industry hard as more planes stayed on the ground, and more crew members and pilots were told to stay home. The consistent hold prevented air travel industry to obtain the revenue in order to satisfy the high demand from summer travellers.
Due to this hold, when the decision of lifting all air travel restrictions came, the aviation industry was completely caught off-guard as there were no preparations made for the avalanche of bookings coming in. The Government of Canada failed to notify the industry about their upcoming decisions, which led to this major issue for Canadian air travel. Delay times increased by 2.5-3 hours, depending on flight route, and if delays were too extensive, flights got cancelled regardless.
With the ongoing delay in flights due to staff shortages and late notifications from governments, high expenses from fuel costs have been detrimental towards flight cancellations.
Fuel Takes-Off, Flights Land
Exhibit 1: Cost of Jet Fuel (Source - Index Mundi)
The cost of oil has shot through the roof ever since Russia invaded Ukraine. Due to many governmental sanctions and boycotting on Russian exports, the supply for oil has reduced substantially and high demand has caused a major increase in oil prices. The aviation industry has been hit hard by these rising costs. The cost of jet fuel has increased 87.62% from December 2021 to May 2022. With increasing costs of fuel and the lower supply of fights compared to the demand from travellers, the cost of air travel has increased by 25%.
Regarding such a high demand of air travel, Air Canada is not able to provide more flights due to the large increase in fuel costs. The airline had to cancel around 190 flights because they were only filled up to 50-60% occupancy with a full crew. Therefore, due to crew shortages, it makes sense that the airline would prefer to allocate staff to a large, occupied flight.
Final Rounds
Air travel has been going through a rollercoaster for the past few years, from blockbuster losses of $4.647 billion to major staff layoffs. Now with restrictions being lifted, the industry still has not received the relaxation it desperately needs, even with a significant amount of revenue coming in from bookings. These cancellations have caused disruptions for thousands of Canadians. Air Canada and other aviation companies need to work with the Government of Canada to decide how they can efficiently bring the Canadian air travel industry to its feet while keeping fuel prices grounded.