Air Canada is Even Less Punctual in 2019 Than it was in 2018
The largest Canadian airline had already been named "one of the worst airlines in the world" in 2018, after a study of the flight and claim processing performance of 150 airlines.
And if the first half of 2019 is any indication...
It's not going to get better.
Actually, it already got worse.
Highest Proportion of Delayed Flights for Air Canada in 2019
ClaimCompass conducted a new study on 74 global airlines for this first half of 2019.
One of the conclusions that came out is that the least punctual airlines of 2018 are even less punctual in 2019.
Air Canada illustrates just that: from an on-time performance (OTP) of 68.77% in 2018, the Canadian airline's performance dropped to 68.03%.
Why does it matter?
Because for an airline which operates over 46,000 flights per month on average, a 0.74 points difference means an additional 340 more delayed flights per month. For air passengers, it matters.
How Does Air Canada's On-Time Performance Compares to Other Airlines?
Well, the good news is that Air Canada still does better than Air Canada Rouge:
From an already low on-time performance of 68.01% in 2018, Air Canada Rouge managed to lose 2.34 points:
During the first half of 2019, 34.33% of Air Canada Rouge were delayed by 15 minutes or more.
The bad news is that there are few airlines that performed worst than Air Canada in 2019 so far.
Even the US airlines, which were also less punctual than in 2018, still do much better than Air Canada.
United Airlines is the least punctual US airline during the first semester of 2019, but even they managed to get less than a quarter of their flight delayed.
American Airlines saw its portion of delayed flights exceed the 20% mark - but it's still much better than Air Canada's on-time performance of 68.03%.
Delta Air Lines is actually among the best performers of this first half of 2019, at only 1 spot from the top 10, with an OTP of 83.69%.
Better Shape Up Before the New Rules for Air Passengers in Canada Come Into Play
Canada recently adopted a new set of rules destined to protect air passenger rights. It's not all great and it could be greatly improved, but one thing is for sure: Canadian airlines don't like it.
They actually asked an appeal to cancel them.
And it's not surprising, considering that the new rules plan for more compensations to be paid by airlines in cases of delayed flights.
While some of these rules are already implemented, other, such as compensations of up to C$1,000 for canceled and delayed flights, won't come into effect until December 15, 2019.
Canadian airlines have a bit over 4 months to improve their flight performance.
Don't forget that if your flight with Air Canada from Europe was canceled or late by at least 3 hours, you may be entitled to up to 600€ according to EU 261.
Get up to 600€ per passenger when your flight is canceled or delayed, thanks to the ClaimCompass: