Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Flair Airlines Ltd. has the highest number of complaints per 100 flights of all the major airlines in Canada, according to the Canadian Transportation Agency, as airlines have had a rocky recovery year with delayed and cancelled flights.
Between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023, Flair saw an average of 15.3 complaints per 100 flights according to the report published in late April.
Sunwing Airlines Inc. came second at 13.8 complaints per 100 flights, and Swoop Inc. was third at 13.2. Meanwhile, WestJet had 6.6 complaints per 100 flights, Air Canada had 4.3 and Air Transat averaged 3.3 complaints.
Flair saw four of its leased planes seized in March because of overdue payments, causing hundreds of cancelled flights.
John Gradek, a lecturer at McGill University's aviation management program, theorized that the debacle for Flair was a symptom of cash flow issues at the airline. He said Flair had overcommitted itself and passengers were complaining about issues related to compensation.
This dealt a blow to the airline's reputation, he said. However, as demand has crept up, Gradek said Flair is charging higher fares and therefore is likely generating more revenue.
"Their cash position has improved significantly," he said.
"They're now able to address any compensation claims that are being made by passengers, whether it's for bags or whether it's for delayed flights or cancelled flights."
As demand for air travel has soared in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines have at times struggled to keep up and the past year has seen headlines about cancellations, delays and chaotic airports.
According to the CTA, the average number of complaints was lower for all the major airlines for the first three-month period of its report from April to June 2022, with Air Canada seeing an average of one complaint per 100 flights, Flair seeing 9.3, Swoop seeing 6.7 and WestJet seeing 3.9.
However, as the summer travel season began last year, the airlines tended to see complaints rise. During the peak July through September summer travel season last year, Swoop jumped to 18.5 complaints per 100 flights to have the highest of all airlines, while during the October through December stretch Sunwing was the worst with 20.7 complaints per 100 flights.
Flair peaked at 20.9 between in the January to March 2023 period when it saw its planes seized, while WestJet also peaked at 10.7 during the same period. Swoop and Air Canada both peaked between July and September last year, at 18.5 and 6.3, respectively.
Sunwing's higher complaints levels over the winter likely stem from the disruptions the airline saw during that time period, Gradek said.
The biggest airlines tended to have the highest number of total passenger complaints, even though the smaller ones are seeing higher averages per 100 flights. In the CTA's report for 2021-2022, Air Canada saw 3,245 complaints and WestJet had 3,288, while Flair had 239 and Sunwing 884.
Gradek said there's stiff competition between Canada's discount carriers, but there may not be room in the market for all of them.
"There is a place for discount carriers, no doubt about it," he said. But Gradek said the real test is not how they fare during peak times, but how they do when demand is lower.
"Will they have enough cash in the bank to survive the fall?" he said. "And will they have enough cash to transition to Christmas?"
Air Canada and WestJet have also both seen recent turbulence, albeit after the CTA report's timeline.
Air Canada cancelled and delayed flights beginning last Thursday due to technical problems, while WestJet narrowly avoided a pilot strike over the May long weekend but still had to cancel a number of flights.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2023.
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.