Originally Posted by
Nightflyer787
I don’t need to listen in on ATC, I speak with them every time I go to work. Navcan is anything but an asset.
Navcan does in fact have a huge impact on AC’s OTP. Take YYZ for example. It has been operating below its potential capacity for years because Navcan has a shortage of controllers. There are 3 East/West runways in YYZ. The last time I can remember them running triples was in 2017. This is because YYZ tower does not have enough controllers. So they can only use 2 of the 3 runways at the same time, thus reducing capacity.
At least 50% of my flights get slowed down inbound to YYZ, no matter what time of day. It may only be 3-4 minutes, but these add up.
That ground crew you are waiting on? They are likely still finishing up their previous flight, which was delayed departing because ATC delayed the aircraft inbound.
YVR has flow delays on multiple days per month, and not due to weather. They use the catchall “resource constraints”. This means not enough controllers. It’s been going on for years. This past August, YVR had flow delays on more than 50% of the days.
With the number of daily flights that AC has operating through YVR and YYZ, this has a huge impact on OTP. Even if it’s 10 minutes, it adds up as the day goes on as these delays compound.
And starting last month, Gander ATC (Navcan) started issuing flow control delays to aircraft bound for Europe and points east. My flight to DXB from YYZ last month had a “wheels up time” issued by Gander which was a 20 minute delay. I got off easy as the previous week, some flights were delayed 45 minutes to 2 hours because of Gander Center (Navcan)
Look, AC is certainly not perfect, but they are hugely dependent on 3rd party providers and it’s not fair to ignore the impact these providers have on OTP.
Yes there is a documented labour shortage at NAVCAN. What you do not mention is that ATC worldwide have a similar issue, and it is certainly no better in the USA. As per the 2023 US DoT Inspector General report,
77% of US air traffic control facilities critical to the industry's daily operations were short-staffed. And the challenges show no signs of resolving on their own.
We know what the impact of resource constraints are at the aiports because the airport authorities must provide alerts when there are flight disruptions. The delays at airports like YYZ that get blamed on ATC and the airport itself are often because of something quite unrelated: Noise abatement and noise complaints. Do you know what the frequency of complaints is? In Vaughan, there were 3,000 air traffic noise complaints in just one month. The result is that the airports are asked to reduce their flights at certain hours on some days when the weather can amplify the sound waves, or to use different routes, all of which can and do cause flight delays. YUL has been experiencing a concerted campaign to reduce flight frequencies by people who live under the flight paths. It is causing a major headache for operations.
All of the above is a characteristic of the operations. A responsible airline operation will adjust its schedules to account for the impact of known likelihoods of operating environment related operations. As has been stated multiple times, Air Canada has not adjusted its schedules. There are some flights which are chronically delayed, and despite that, the airline does not adjust its schedule to reflect those known and expected delays.
In respect to Gander as per
https://spaces.navcanada.ca/workspace/ois/There are currently no GDP/AFP in effectIt is unfair to toss out a reference to delays, when many stations will issue such alerts because of weather or high traffic volumes. Europe has been experiencing labour unrest since 2023. Icelands ATC went on strike in 2023, France and Italy had ATC labour disruptions. The UK has had labour issues at its airports. All of this to say that it has a cascading impact on other ATC stations as they deal with the disrupted volumes. Iceland has been experiencing seismic activity and volcanic venting for the past two months. There will most likely be warning alerts issued for January resulting in delays because of warnings like this;
the likelihood of magma intrusion and potentially an eruption along the Sundhnúkur crater row may increase as of late January. It is to be expected that there will be an impact on transatlantic air travel and delays might not necessarily be because of an ATC deficiency.
I get it, you have believe that Canadian ATC and NAVCAN are factor in the delays. Fine. As stated above, a prudent business operator takes that into account and adjusts its schedules to reflect that operating environment. Sometime ago, a comparison was offered on the differences between AC and other airlines on the routes they fly and how AC relied on shorter flight times and faster turn arounds than the other airlines. Well, that's entirely AC's doing and no one else's. The airline is misleading the public and causing inconvenience. For example, the airline still pushes its YUL-NRT-BKK connection with TG which allows only one hour to connect to the TG flight. Even the connection to NH an hour later can cut it close. The YUL flight arrival to NRT is chronically delayed in some months. I know because on 4 flights over 3 years, I arrived late 3X, with 2 misconnects and 1 barely making my NH connection. I don't repeat the mistake anymore, but most passengers are unaware and suffer financial loss when they lose their hotel reservations or miss their local connecting flights upon arrival in BKK. I know, because it has happened to me and it was a hassle to rebook. At least when I misconnect with EVA, the airline will rebook everything for me, even when my conenctions are with another carrier. AC has never offered to do that. One is hard pressed to even find a an agent at the transfer desk when there is a misconnect, and worse, is that there can be 20-50+ passengers waiting forlornly for the one agent to show up to assist. That's what AC's dismal OTP does to people.