Air Canada has enough pilots to meet demand as U.S. tourists return By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Air Canada planes are parked at Toronto Pearson Airport in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada April 28, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio/File Photo

MONTREAL (Reuters) – Canada’s largest carrier Air Canada said on Tuesday it has all the “fully qualified” pilots it needs to meet higher travel demand with the planned return of U.S. tourists to the country.

Canada on Monday said it would allow fully vaccinated U.S. tourists to enter the country starting from Aug. 9, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced an unprecedented 16-month ban.

A rapid return in traffic can create staffing headaches for carriers which cancelled thousands of flights during the COVID-19 pandemic when demand plummeted.

Some U.S. airlines scrambled to re-train pilots whose flying credentials expired during the pandemic as the carriers raced to meet a surge in summer travel demand. American Airlines (NASDAQ:), for example, trimmed its July flying due to overall labor shortages.

As of April 13, Air Canada had 600 pilots on furlough, according to their union. The carrier had around 4,000 pilots before COVID-19, said a spokeswoman for the Air Canada Pilots Association.

But Air Canada said by email the carrier took steps during the pandemic to keep pilots in the air, such as having three pilots instead of two, even on near-empty flights and converting larger aircraft to freighters.

“We have all the fully qualified pilots we require as travel ramps back up,” an Air Canada spokesperson said.

Air Canada has 11 simulators and access to five more through aviation training specialist CAE (NYSE:).

Montreal-based CAE has seen higher demand for its simulator services, with its pilot-training centers now operating at around 60% of capacity in the United States, a spokeswoman said.

Air Canada shares were up 7% in afternoon trading. The carrier reports quarterly earnings on Friday.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*