Air Canada announced last week it would cut more than 15 percent of its schedule in July and August – more than 9,500 flights. Aside from three routes reportedly set to be temporarily suspended, (between Montreal and Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Kelowna, and one from Toronto to Fort McMurray) the airline said the routes to be cut will be primarily from Toronto and Montreal but provided no information as to destinations or schedules. Passengers, including New Brunswick’s education minister Dominic Cardy are lashing out at Air Canada, for inadequate information and late cancellations.

Cardy called the airline “incompetent” because it decided on the weekend to cancel a Monday flight that would have taken him and four officials to a meeting in Regina. Cardy posted a series of tweets that included calling for deregulation of Canada’s airline industry.

“I’m speaking for myself,” he wrote. “I hope Canadians start asking why we pay more for flights than anyone in the world, in exchange for terrible service. Paying for unavailable services isn’t left versus right. It’s called being ripped off.”

Delays and cancellations everywhere

Meanwhile an analytics firm reported the majority of domestic flights to some of Canada’s busiest airports were delayed or cancelled last week. Data Wazo says 54 percent of flights to six large airports were bumped off schedule in the seven days between June 22 and 28.

Also last week, Calgary-based WestJet Airlines confirmed it is flying 32 percent fewer flights in and out of Toronto Pearson International Airport in July than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In recent weeks, the airline industry’s logistical problems have led to the long lineups, snarled connections and cancelled flights at many Canadian airports.

Some 38 percent of the flights were delayed while 16 percent were scrapped altogether.

The airports are Montreal, Calgary, Toronto’s Pearson and Billy Bishop airports, Ottawa and Halifax.

Airlines and the federal government have been scrambling to respond to scenes of endless lines, flight disruptions and daily turmoil at airports – particularly at Pearson – a problem the aviation industry has blamed on a shortage of federal security and customs officers.

Canada’s airport security agency has hired more than 900 screeners since April, though many remain in training. Ottawa has also suspended randomized COVID-19 testing of vaccinated passengers through at least Thursday, following sector demands to process international travellers more quickly.