rankourabu

Is this true? Systemwide? If so, 8%... yikes.

Air Canada is still carrying less than eight per cent of its normal passenger volumes due to factors beyond our control and with no horizon for recovery


Also, to whoever said this is not a bargaining chip and that AC would not have a sinister motive - not only thats exactly what this move is about, they arent even shy about it.

"This decision was not taken lightly, and we regret the impact on our customers and community partners, but it is increasingly difficult to continue to operate in this challenging environment, without specific financial support from government, with whom continue to wait for negotiations to start

YOWgary

"Whoever"? You replied directly to me about it twenty minutes ago.

...which is why I'm surprised that you'd misquote me so badly. I didn't say anything close to "this is not a bargaining chip", and not only did I not say "AC would not have a sinister motive", I specifically mentioned that I've found other parts of their behaviour this year questionable.

What I *did* say, was to ask if anyone had specific facts to back up the assertion that AC cancelled profitable flights as a negotiating tactic. Which you clearly understood well enough to respond to it specifically in your first post.

Just about every airline in the world's been running money-losing routes this year, hoping they'll come back. AC is hardly alone in slashing service; for example, United just cut over a dozen regional routes today, long *after* they received federal bailout money.

There are sinister reasons for an airline to cut regional service, and there are also business reasons to do exactly the same thing, and all I've asked here is whether we have any evidence between the two, or if it's just the usual FT nonsense of "we don't need facts, whatever [airline] did, must have been evil".

If they did it for evil reasons, then that'll be just one more thing they've done this year to deservedly lose consumer confidence. Until you have those facts, it's too soon for pitchforks and torches.

YYC009

All the news stories seem to be focusing on the Atlantic Canada closures and route suspensions and not the Penticton closure. I even read one article that says Air Canada is ending its Revelstoke to Vancouver service. I clicked the 'report a factual error' on the Globe and Mail website to tell them that their 'Revelstoke' is actually 'Penticton' Yeesh.

The West wants in...

Adam Smith

Contrary to what's posted above (based on this story), it seems that AC is not suspending all operations in YYG (which struck me as odd for a provincial capital of an island province), but suspending YYZ-YYG and replacing it with CRJ flights YUL-YYG.

Given current crummy flight schedules, will that mean any representatives from the (mathematically) most over-represented province, as well as federal government employees needing to travel there, will likely have to drive from Ottawa to YUL, then have no chance of upgrading to J, in order to get to PEI? Or suffer some ridiculously long connection at YUL with no lounge in which to pass the time?

No one can say AC has ended service to YYG and is killing the province or anything like that, but it likely makes it substantially less pleasant to travel from Ottawa to Charlottetown. Seems to me like a potentially very effective but sneaky way of putting pressure on decision makers in the federal government re a bailout.

McLovin88

Yes they also cut the Halifax/Ottawa routes which is also pissing me off since I live in Ottawa and could have at least driven to Cape Breton when needed. Now that becomes a hop via Toronto. I'm starting to believe they are doing the Ottawa route cuts to increase pressure on the feds to provide more relief.

YOWgary

A few of the federal employees travelling most frequently from YOW to Atlantic Canada are friends of mine, and having talked with them about this last night, I will point out that the vast majority of official travel is curtailed right now anyway, and doubly so to regions requiring a 14-day quarantine.

Most of those government travellers have been Zooming to work since March, and I would wager that they'll return to this kind of travel around the same time the rest of the economy opens up and (presumably) those routes start up again.

In the meanwhile, if a Cabinet minister really needs to get out there, I would personally wager that they'd just put them and staff on a Challenger.

EdmFlyBoi

It would seem pretty clear that AC is cutting routes that are not running with a "reasonable" number of passengers. They are doing their best to reduce daily cash burn (which they seemingly did not a bad job of in the third quarter). Those routes that are losing significant money will continue to be cut until passenger numbers return or there is government support to reinstate them. Seems rather simple...

hoipolloi

Many think that Air Canada and its management already deserve pitchforks and torches. I am surprised we didn't see any instance of consumers picketing in front of an Air Canada building. Has it ever happened in Canada's history that consumers picket in front of a company's building due to consumer-related litigation ?

YOWgary

It really sounds like you're letting reasonable anger over a separate issue, drive your thinking on this one.

Well, let us know what day you're going.

rankourabu

If it quacks like a duck... Almost all past behaviour by Air Canada management deserves pitchforks and torches when it comes to business ethics. Why would they get the benefit of the doubt on this one?

Adam Smith

Seems like the kind of expensive thing that might get negative headlines, no? I was also thinking more of the four MPs (all members of the government party) and four senators (of whom three associated with the government party), who I presume have still been flying back and forth regularly, than a Cabinet minister making a one-off visit.

None of us have access to AC's route-by-route load factors and information on O/D bookings, or AC's exact costs. Traffic to YYG can't be that awful if they're still maintaining service, and it's unlikely that there's suddenly more demand for YUL-YYG than YYZ-YYG. So why the shift? Cancelling YYZ-YYG and restarting YUL-YYG to replace it may simply be a matter of reducing costs (shorter route = less fuel burned), and the route may well have been losing a bunch of money, but it's not impossible that politics may have played in to the decision.

YOWgary

Only 25-30% of MPs have been attending sittings of Parliament in person, with the remaining Members attending virtually. I can't quickly find records of who's been attending in person, but IIRC the list is chosen to minimize travel while ensuring all parties are represented in the room.

Certainly, I would imagine that decreased availability of air service to and from the region would be a factor in who goes and who doesn't, but that's just me speculating.


Honestly, if Air Canada started serving chocolate-chip cookies onboard that also instantly vaccinated a person against COVID-19, there's no shortage of people out there (and certainly an overabundance on FT) who would immediately start screaming about the calorie count.

All I asked was "is there evidence AC has scrapped profitable routes as a negotiating tactic" and the answer is "don't care, they're evil".

It's easy to spot the people who don't wait for facts before they get angry, but it's still helpful when they identify themselves so clearly.

YZF_Elite

Parliament also usually doesn't sit during most of January and it's also a really slow travel time in a good year. I'm not sure what the traffic numbers are associated with essential federal government travelers, but I suspect it's an MP from time to time and maybe, maybe a senior executive from Veteran's Affairs which is HQ in YYG. In my department we are down to the absolute bare minimum, only a couple of trips this year four our ~5,000 employees vs thousands normally.

I suspect this is mostly linked to the Atlantic bubble, Covid generally, cost to operate flights there in the winter and that it's an off-season in the region in any event. With nobody traveling for vacation, Atlantic Canada travel other than oil workers is grounding to a standstill. That said, I was surprised that Sydney doesn't merit continued service given the number of Capers who work in Alberta and elsewhere.

Otherwise, I think the icing on the cake for AC is that PD/WS did it already and it puts some pressure on MPs.

global happy traveller

I think there are multiple things at play at the moment

1. Money..... everyone working in the people transportation business right now are scrambling to cover their operating costs, reduce cash burn and survive. Reducing/suspending and optimizing the network back to hub & spoke/fleet use are part of the survival and day-to-day business process.

2. The Atlantic Bubble & other countries with travel restrictions adds another layer of complexity for people using it and basically kills discretionary travel. Moreover, the definition of "discretionary travel" in Covid has been redefined as essential vs non-essential, and not just disposable income/interest to travel for business or personal purposes. Also the 10-14 day quarantine really discourages any short term travel/possibly round trip intentions.

3. Like any major corporation there will always be some media & governmental relation interests. Are they necessarily tied to my earlier 2 points? Probably, but conversations at this level is typically driven by senior management and strategic business folks (as opposed to the day-to-day side of things).

yyznomad

Anyone have recent load factors (past month or so) for the routes in question as it pertains to AC?