Latest news with #Cirium
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Air Canada climbs rankings for most on-time airline in North America as U.S. carriers' performance tanks
Air Canada was ranked the most on-time airline in North America in June, but one expert warns there's more behind the numbers than meets the eye. A new report from aviation analytics company Cirium ranked Air Canada number one in on-time performance against nine other North American Airlines, including Canadian competitor WestJet Airlines Inc., and U.S. giants Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines. Cirium said Air Canada had an on-time arrival score of 77.15 per cent. Its nearest competitor, Spirit Airlines, scored 75.77 per cent. Delta was third at 75.62 per cent, while WestJet placed seventh at 71.73 per cent. 'To say that Air Canada topped one statistic is nice, but my view is that there are a basket of other measures that kind of tell a different story,' said John Gradek, an aviation expert who previously worked at Air Canada, and is now a lecturer and program co-ordinator in aviation management at McGill University in Montreal. 'Air Canada has improved. There's no doubt about it,' Gradek said. 'They've done a number of initiatives in the organization to get their staff to improve their on-time performance.' He added that those include closing the boarding of planes earlier and planes departing earlier. Another practice Air Canada is turning to to improve on-time performance is cancelling flights when it appears they will be late and recoding them and changing their departure time. 'If a flight is going to be late at Air Canada, and there is a high probability that the delay could be significant, what Air Canada does is cancels its flight,' he said. Passengers then receive notification that they are booked on a flight with a different code but in the same seat but departing an hour later. However, Kevin O'Connor, senior vice-president of global airports and operations control at Air Canada, rejects that claim. 'I can say that that is the absolutely false, that we do not try to modify or change the stats in a case like that. We don't try to gamify anything,' O'Connor said. Instead, O'Connor said, Air Canada took a wholistic approach to fixing their on-time performance, including turning landed aircraft around faster, making sure employees are following boarding schedules and adding larger onboard luggage bins, which helps eliminate taking baggage to the plane's hold, just as examples. Air Canada is also employing artificial intelligence to design its flight schedule and predict where delays and potential snarls could arise. 'It's a lengthy list of initiatives that every branch (of the company) can buy into and rally around,' O'Connor said. 'We're starting on a new journey (with) a lot more technology and more AI. But we certainly still want to get a higher OTP (on-time performance score), higher completion, better customer service, better customer satisfaction,' he said. The Cirium results represent a turnaround for Air Canada which scored 54.36 for on-time performance in January 2023. Gradek said Air Canada's improvement represents just a part of what is behind the Cirium data. 'It's not so much that Air Canada and Spirit have done very well. It's that the rest of the crew, Delta, JetBlue American and United have tanked,' Gradek said. Air Canada's May and June on-time performance scores that earned them the top spot are lower than the highs posted in October and November of 80.45 and 80.43 per cent, which were lower than all the American-based carriers during those two months. U.S. airlines 'flights are really, really full. As you increase the load factor and increase the congestion, you have a corresponding drop in your ability to move those passengers,' he said. They also operate more flights. For comparison, Air Canada and runner-up Spirit completed 33,473 and 19,656 flights, respectively, compared with 158,294 flights for Delta and 148,620 for United Airlines and 197,703 for American Airlines. O'Connor argued that while the U.S. carriers grapple with more passengers and planes, Air Canada deals with more longer-distance flights, which he described as a 'a significantly challenging network.' 'But probably the most telling part is air traffic control in the States,' Gradek said. Aviation in the U.S. has been struggling with an extreme shortage of air traffic controllers, which has severely impacted air travel in some parts of the country, resulting in cancellations and flight delays. The shortage of an estimated 5,000 air traffic controllers has been blamed for several deadly accidents, including a crash over the Potomac River in January between a military helicopter and an American Airlines aircraft that resulted in the deaths of 67 people. Gradek also pointed out that Air Canada came in second last in completion factor, which is the number of departures completed divided by the number of scheduled departures. Air Canada also locked-in first spot in North America in May, CIBC Capital Markets analyst Ken Chiang said in an analysis of the Cirium report, noting that May was the first time that Air Canada topped the list in data going back to January 2023. Typically Air Canada ranked seven to 10 over the last year. 'While we would expect AC's on-time performance to improve coming out of the winter season, it also posted a significant year-over-year increase, up 755 basis points and outperforming the other top 10 North American carriers,' Chiang said. 'The improvement in AC's on-time performance highlights that its operations continue to normalize as it recovers from the pandemic, which helps drive improved customer satisfaction.' As recently as the end of 2024, Air Canada was ranked among the 50 worst airlines, according to AirHelp Inc. The company facilitates compensation for passengers by processing customer service claims for flight disruptions and lost luggage. AirHelp ranked Air Canada 91 among 109 airlines basing it on methodology which takes into account customer claims processed worldwide, as well as outside data tracking on-time arrival and departure performance for every plane, plus feedback from passengers from more than 54 countries on the quality of food, comfort and crew service on their most recent flight. Watchdog urges Canada to allow 100% foreign ownership of airlines to spur competition Air Canada says U.S. bookings are down 10% as trade war escalates Chiang in his research note nonetheless highlighted that Air Canada's on-time score significantly lagged those of other regions. For June, the most on-time region was Latin America, which averaged 83.90 per cent, followed by Asia Pacific at 82.06 per cent, Europe at 81.41 per cent and Middle East & Africa Airlines at 80.65 per cent. North America's average was 73.30 per cent. 'No North American carrier cracked the top-10 most on-time global airlines,' he said. Gradek, however, said that most of those air travel markets are much less congested than North America's. 'We run a lot more airplanes, a lot more flights in North America than any other domain in the world. And so we have a congested airspace,' he said. O'Connor also said that Canadian airlines performance improves when agencies such Canada Border Services Agency, NAV Canada, which operates the air traffic control system, and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, responsible for passenger and baggage screening, run smoothly. 'When everybody performs better, it will always come out in the airline's favour,' he said. • Email: gmvsuhanic@
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
In tit-for-tat move, India extends airspace closure for Pakistani airlines till August 24
Following Pakistan's decision to extend the closure of its airspace for Indian aircraft and airlines by a month — till the morning of August 24 — India has also announced the extension of its ban on Pakistani airlines and aircraft from entering Indian airspace for the same period, according to a fresh notice to airmen (NOTAM) issued by India's aviation authorities. Pakistan had issued its NOTAM on July 18, a few days before the July 24 expiration of the earlier closure notice. After this extension by Pakistan, India was also likely to extend the closure of its airspace for Pakistani airlines and aircraft beyond July 24, when the earlier Indian NOTAM was also set to expire. Following the Pahalgam terror attack in April, as diplomatic relations between Delhi and Islamabad deteriorated, Pakistan on April 24 shut its airspace to Indian aircraft and Indian airlines for at least a month, banning them from overflying its airspace. On April 30, India, too, closed its airspace to Pakistani aircraft and airlines. Since then, both countries have been extending their airspace closures by issuing NOTAMs on a monthly basis. The two countries have only banned each other's airlines and aircraft from their respective airspaces, but they remain open for overflying for airlines and aircraft from other countries. The new NOTAM issued by India is similar to the previous notices, except for the effective duration of airspace closure. India will keep its airspace closed to Pakistani airlines and aircraft, including military flights, till 5:29 India time on August 24. The latest NOTAM from Pakistan on airspace closure has the same expiration date and time. With the Pakistani airspace not available to them, around 800 flights a week of Indian airlines are being impacted by longer durations, increased fuel burn, and a few other complexities related to crew and flight scheduling, all of which are increasing operational costs for the carriers. Indian airlines' flights from North India to West Asia, the Caucasus, Europe, the UK, and North America's eastern region switched from their routine paths to longer routes, adding anywhere between 15 minutes to a few hours to the journey, depending on the distance and the location of the destination. For Pakistan, however, the impact of India's airspace closure has been rather insignificant because, unlike India's booming aviation sector, Pakistan's struggling flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), has a limited international footprint, and that too largely to the west of the country. According to airline schedule data from Cirium, PIA operates just six flights a week — to and from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, from Lahore and Islamabad—that were routinely flying over India. All major Indian airlines operate international flights to destinations to the west of the country, and many of these flights were routinely overflying Pakistan. Air India operates flights to West Asia, Europe, the UK, and North America. IndiGo operated flights to West Asia, Turkey, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, but had to suspend flights to the Central Asian cities of Almaty and Tashkent from Delhi as they were now outside the operational range of its existing fleet of narrow-body aircraft. Air India Express, Akasa Air, and SpiceJet's west-bound international flights are to destinations in West Asia. According to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, currently there are almost 400 weekly westward international departures from North Indian airports — Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, and Lucknow — that were routinely flying over Pakistan. Given that all these flights have return legs, the total number of affected flights goes up to around 800 from these airports. Of these, around 640 flights are from or to India's largest airport — Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport — which is likely to be the most affected due to the move by Pakistan. Additionally, a handful of ultra-long-haul flights from other Indian cities like Mumbai are also getting impacted as their flight paths used to go through the Pakistani airspace. When Pakistan closed its airspace for over four months in 2019, Indian airlines are estimated to have lost around Rs 700 crore due to higher fuel expenses and operational complications that came with longer routes many of their flights were forced to take. Air India was the worst affected Indian carrier at the time, as it operated more west-bound international flights than other airlines. Moreover, it was and continues to be the only Indian airline that operates ultra-long-haul flights to North America. Air India, now a Tata group entity, is understood to have informed the government that the Pakistani airspace closure is estimated to cost the airline around $600 million on an annualised basis. Over the past few years, other Indian airlines —particularly IndiGo — have also expanded their international networks to include various destinations that can be served by their existing fleets that mainly comprises narrow-body jets. IndiGo is the only Indian airline that was flying to destinations in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Turkey. Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
The new way to fly out of Australia
Regional airports across Australia are turning into gateways for international travel as new routes and more competition create options for travel-hungry consumers. This month, the total number of passenger seats on offer from regional airports (on a weekly basis) rose from 18,887 a year ago to 20,145. It's a rise of 6 per cent in the winter school holiday travel months, according to aviation analytics company Cirium, as more flights to New Zealand, Bali and the South Pacific drive up the traffic. 'Australians remain keen to head overseas despite cost-of-living pressures, with travel now firmly embedded in household budgets,' Australian Airports Association chief Simon Westaway said. The move towards regional departures for international flights to Asia, New Zealand and the South Pacific is driven by frustration with crowded metro hubs, rising demand for overseas travel and the availability of services on smaller commercial aircraft that can fly longer distances. 'Population growth and rising demand are making regional centres more attractive for international services,' said Westaway. Westaway said that the advances in aircraft technology 'are allowing airlines to fly longer distances with smaller planes'. 'This makes it more viable to launch international routes from regional airports, provided the right infrastructure is in place.' Loading Qantas budget arm Jetstar is flying the narrow body Airbus 321LR (standing for long range), capable of flying 7400 kilometres, which means it can be used on domestic and international routes. Qantas' newly delivered 321XLR narrow body has a range of 8700 kilometres.
The Age
3 days ago
- Business
- The Age
The new way to fly out of Australia
Regional airports across Australia are turning into gateways for international travel as new routes and more competition create options for travel-hungry consumers. This month, the total number of passenger seats on offer from regional airports (on a weekly basis) rose from 18,887 a year ago to 20,145. It's a rise of 6 per cent in the winter school holiday travel months, according to aviation analytics company Cirium, as more flights to New Zealand, Bali and the South Pacific drive up the traffic. 'Australians remain keen to head overseas despite cost-of-living pressures, with travel now firmly embedded in household budgets,' Australian Airports Association chief Simon Westaway said. The move towards regional departures for international flights to Asia, New Zealand and the South Pacific is driven by frustration with crowded metro hubs, rising demand for overseas travel and the availability of services on smaller commercial aircraft that can fly longer distances. 'Population growth and rising demand are making regional centres more attractive for international services,' said Westaway. Westaway said that the advances in aircraft technology 'are allowing airlines to fly longer distances with smaller planes'. 'This makes it more viable to launch international routes from regional airports, provided the right infrastructure is in place.' Loading Qantas budget arm Jetstar is flying the narrow body Airbus 321LR (standing for long range), capable of flying 7400 kilometres, which means it can be used on domestic and international routes. Qantas' newly delivered 321XLR narrow body has a range of 8700 kilometres.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Revealed: The flight figures that prove Portofino really is busier than ever - as tourists claim it's TOO crowded
Tourist flights going into Portofino will rise dramatically again this year - despite British visitors this week reporting that it's already 'too crowded' this summer and the Italian resort's mayor recently introducing tough new rules on tourist behaviour. Like much of the Med this summer, the resort, which sits on the Italian Riviera in Liguria, has also been the subject of anti-tourism protests - but figures exclusively gained by MailOnline suggest that this year far more tourists descending than in previous years. The pretty coastal village announced on July 15th it was taking a hard line on tourists deemed to be misbehaving - introducing fines of up to 500 euros for those caught drinking alcohol in the street, wearing swimwear in its historic piazza and picnic-ing outdoors. The temporary rules, which expire on September 30th, are part of a bid to ensure the elegant Italian resort remains civilised this summer, says its mayor, Matteo Viacava. One tourist in the glamorous destination this week shared images of holidaymakers jostling for space on a crowded beach, saying: 'You travelled to a "secret beach" in Portofino, except it definitely isn't secret anymore.' The caption read: 'Expectation vs Reality in Portofino! Literally took one look at the crowds and left.' Another TikToker posted a clip of a busy street in Portofino and simply wrote, 'Watching Portofino get flooded with tourists'. According to data collected by aviation analysts Cirium, the gateway airport to Portofino, Genoa, will see nearly 142,000 more visitors jet in to the region this year than last. The figures revealed that in 2024, there were 5,038 flights and 800,100 seats arriving into Genoa from global airports. For 2025, however, the predicted number of global flights arriving into the Italian hub is 5,650 - with 941,600 seats. From the UK, there's also been a significant bump in the number of Brits booking flights that will land them close to Portofino - the airport of Genoa is less than an hour west by car. Last year saw 350 flights from the UK, with the vast majority leaving from London Stansted, with around 50 flights departing out of Manchester, with a total number of around 66,300 seats. This year, that figure is scheduled to rise to 367 flights, equivalent to 69,600 seats. It's just days since the village announced it was introducing tough new rules to protect itself from the perils of overtourism. Consuming alcohol on public streets in Portofino has been prohibited, with drinkers confined to restaurants, bars, and designated areas. Begging, sitting, or lying on the streets, walls, sidewalks and parks has also been banned along with having picnics. Anyone who is caught violating the regulations before then will be subject to a fine of between £22 and £433. The goal of the latest crackdown is to protect the 'peace and quiet of residents and tourists' in the exclusive coastal resort which brings in up to 100,000 tourists during peak season - despite the town only having a population of 400. When it comes to madding summer crowds, much of Europe's most popular tourist destinations paint a similar picture. In the Italian village of Varenna - famed for its tiny streets and colourful facades of houses - Brits have complained of crowds so dense they were barely able to reach down to take their phones out of their pockets. Meanwhile, footage from the Greek island of Santorini - adored by influencers for its breathtaking sunsets and views across the Mediterranean - show thousands of people inching along narrow streets with barely enough room to pass each other. Disappointed sunseekers have taken to social media to share how their dream holiday didn't quite match reality. A holidaymaker in Lake Como, Italy, posted a video warning others what to expect, showing packed coastal pathways and an hour long line for the ferry. The clip is captioned: 'Lake Como in June is so amazing, the views are stunning, but so many people and waiting times.' Another visitor likened the experience to 'the tourist hunger games' alongside a seemingly endless line of people. A woman visiting Positano, on Italy's Amalfi Coast, was also left disappointed by her experience. She said: 'Social media lied. I've been dreaming of going to Positano on Italy's Amalfi Coast for years. 'And while it is definitely a very beautiful town, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. 'I was expecting all of the stairs, but I wasn't expecting the magnitude of the crowds and the lineups. 'Positano has become a travel destination where you need to have every moment of your itinerary planned out in advance, and book reservations for pretty much everything. 'Otherwise, it will all be booked up before you even touch down in Italy.' Meanwhile, in Greece, overcrowding is also frustrating sunseekers. One woman revealed how much the island of Santorini has changed since her last visit two years ago, before the tourism surge became so severe. She posted a picture of a packed street, writing, 'Santorini! When we stayed here in 2022, we scoffed at the people who came off the cruise ships. 'This time, we were those people! Santorini in summer is no joke. The heat, the crowds, the lines. No magic this time. Just sweat, nausea and swollen feet. 'Don't be deceived by the smiling faces.' Some areas have introduced special measures in an attempt to crack down on overcrowding. Portofino has banned walking barefoot, picnics and drinking booze on the streets among a swathe of other prohibitions. Tourists risk being fined for carrying out a variety of actions typically enjoyed abroad. From July 15, travellers in Portofino will no longer be able to walk through the town barefoot, in swimwear, or topless - or sit in the piazza in such attire. Consuming alcohol on public streets has also been prohibited, with only restaurants, bars and designated areas left to booze in. Begging, sitting, or lying on the streets, walls, sidewalks and parks has also been banned along with having picnics. The new ordinance, signed by Mayor Matteo Viacava, will take effect during the summer season and temporarily expire on September 30. Anyone who is caught violating the regulations before then will be subject to a fine of between £22 and £433. The goal of the latest crackdown is to protect the 'peace and quiet of residents and tourists' in the exclusive coastal resort which brings in up to 100,000 tourists during peak season - despite the town only having a population of 400. The municipality had already attempted to combat troublesome tourists in 2023. During that period, stopping at particularly popular viewpoints across the picturesque town was prohibited. These include a tourist tax, restrictions on access and parking, and a proposed 'saturation law' limiting daily visitor numbers. @vickirutwind Social media lied 😳 🇮🇹 I've been dreaming of going to Positano on Italy's Amalfi Coast for years. And while it is definitely a very very very beautiful town, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. ✈️ I was expecting all of the stairs, but I wasn't expecting the magnitude of the crowds and the lineups. 📝 Positano has become a travel destination where you need to have every moment of your itinerary planned out in advance, and book reservations for pretty much everything. Otherwise, it will all be booked up before you even touch down in Italy. And while that might be your travel style, I really like having an opportunity to explore and be spontaneous. 💴 I also think if you want some of the magical experiences you are seeing on social media, you have to pay a major premium to stay at the super luxury hotels, and dine at the most expensive restaurants with reservations booked way in advance. 🌎 In the end, I did still have a nice time in Positano because it's a beautiful town, the main beach has a nice beach club, and we had some nice meals. But for now, it's not one of my favorite travel destinations. I'm on the fence about whether I'll return. Have you been to Positano? And if you have, what did you think about it? #positano #positanoitaly #amalficoast #travelitaly #instagramvsreality #italytravel ♬ original sound - william springfield One woman revealed how much the island of Santorini has changed since her last visit two years ago, before the tourism surge became so severe Meanwhile, Spain's Balearic Islands have stopped using influencers to promote holiday hotspots and warned that 'selfie tourism' is ruining the region's most beautiful beaches. The move comes a year after jeering Mallorcan protestors descended on an Instagram-famous beach and blocked visitors from entering in a bid to combat mass tourism. Local authorities had originally hoped social media stars would help relieve the strain on some locations frequented by tourists by encouraging visitors to explore less popular sites. But the strategy has seemingly backfired, as some of these remote locations have now become flooded with selfie-snapping visitors, causing even more overcrowding and sparking further fury from locals contesting 'over tourism.'
