Air Canada lands last in on-time flights in ranking of North American airlines
CBC
Air Canada notched the worst on-time performance among 10 large airlines in North America in 2023, according to a new report.
The country's biggest carrier landed 63 per cent of its flights on time last year, placing it last among the continent's 10 largest airlines, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm.
That means roughly 140,000 planes rolled up to the gate more than 15 minutes after scheduled arrival.
The score was five percentage points below the second- and third-lowest carriers, JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines.
Canada's other major airline, WestJet, placed seventh in North America with a score of 69 per cent.
The best results came from Delta Air Lines, which ranked first at 85 per cent, followed by Alaska Airlines at 82 per cent.
Comparably, a ranking of European counterparts placed Dutch carrier KLM in the 10th spot with a score of 76 per cent, 13 points higher than Air Canada.
Air Canada said the rankings reflect the challenges that affected carriers in Canada through the year.
"However, our operation has been consistently improving so that by year-end our monthly on-time performance showed a double-digit improvement over July, a significant increase," a spokesperson for Air Canada told CBC News in a statement, which noted that the company's focus remains on "further raising" on-time performance in 2024.
John Lawford, the executive director and general counsel of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) in Ottawa, said that the on-time percentage metric is one that matters a lot to consumers.
"It would seem to be a good wake up call for Air Canada to improve the on-time percentage," Lawford told CBC News. "It would probably reduce their consumer delay and cancellation complaints as well, and to the extent that they can spend to do that, that's what consumers would probably prefer."
The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), an independent regulatory body that mediates and resolves disputes between airlines and passengers, has been working through a backlog of complaints.
The grievances, many of them against Air Canada, have piled up since a 2019 federal regulation changed compensation entitlements for passengers whose flights had been delayed by three hours or more.
Air Canada has been offering cash and vouchers to settle with a selection of passengers who've made complaints through the CTA, though some consumers have said they're being low-balled by the airline.
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