Canadian airline industry (general discussion)

[gabe]

Flair is the only one left and has lasted the longest. I hope they can stay alive but I know they are also in dire straits and loaded with debt to their eyeballs.

I am hoping Canada can keep one low cost carrier. We already have 3 mainline carriers, the two big boys and Porter who has done tremendously well and continues to eat into domestic and cross border market share.

The uncertainty with Flair is why I flew Porter last month. Porter was excellent! And the cost wasn't that much more than Flair. I met some people at the Victoria BC airport. They were flying Air Canada to Toronto, but they were stuck at the airport because their flight was delayed by 3 hours. They regretted not booking with Porter.

Air Canada is one of the worst in North America for flight delays. I will never fly Air Canada.

Air Canada lands last in on-time flights in ranking of North American airlines​

Canada's biggest carrier landed 63% of its flights on time in 2023​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-performance-on-time-1.7072663

 

[lead82]

We have no choice but to fly AC if you live out east or travel internationally. There are few choices especially if you want to fly direct. AC has its fault for delays but their frequency of service is hard to beat. This is where Porter and WestJet can’t compete. If I need to fly to a certain destination, say London from Toronto, AC has like 4-6 flights a day! Porter doesn’t fly there and WestJet may have one at best and if that’s delayed or canceled you need to wait a day at least.