It has been a rocky public holiday for Canadian airports with delays affecting over two-thirds of flights. The reaction has been equally as bleak with tens of thousands of flights being cancelled across Canadian Airports for July and August.

The problems seem to run no deeper than abysmal planning, with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) “surprised” over how quickly Canadians returned to flying after two years cooped up as a result of the pandemic.

Niel Parry, vice president of operations at CATSA told MPs at the House of Commons Transportation Committee that they didn’t expect a surge this early.

Is anything being done to fix the problems facing Canadian Airports?

For months now, the federal border agency have failed to fill staff shortages according to the union representing customs officers.

“With no end in sight to delays affecting travellers at airports and border crossings across the country, it’s clear the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has no plan to get travel back on track any time soon,” the Customs and Immigration Union said in a release Monday.

The CBSA has in fact rolled out their “summer action plan,” imposing mandatory overtime and suspending non-essential training for staff that are already over worked and under trained.

What can we expect from Canadian Airports this summer?

The unfortunate reality is that Canadian Airports are set to complicate every travellers plans throughout the summer period. A quick survey of your professional or personal circles will tell you everything you need to know about the pent up travel demand that was supposedly unforeseeable.

Between June 22 and 27 a massive 51% of flights at Canada’s major airports were either delayed or cancelled. This, despite the lifting of mandates on June 20th designed to lessen the bottlenecks in Canadian Airports.

The federal government removed a requirement on June 20 for domestic and international outbound travellers to provide their proof of vaccination when travelling by plane, something that was pushed for by the industry. However, the change in mandates has offered little to no reprise.

What does this mean for leisure and corporate travellers?

For leisure travellers, the experience has been at the very least a massive inconvenience. But, for corporate travellers dealing with critical business matters, missing flights or lengthy delays can be the difference between making or breaking a deal of massive significance.

From the experiences of our own clients it is becoming increasingly obvious that the solutions being offered in the ground, in the airports are nowhere close to good enough.

Without the help of travel representation, travellers are left with no other options than to accept long wait times and inconvenient redirections.

How can a Corporate Travel Agent help?

Delays and cancellations are an inevitability this summer. The only way to succeed is to have an expert covering any and every eventuality. That might mean holding seats on other flights or reacting quickly to cancellations to beat the crowd. Having someone that can go out and find the solutions on your behalf, with years of experience in corporate travel, will set you ahead of the masses and not at the mercy of the airlines.

Worried about your the leisure travel of your Execs?

A unique benefit of using our corporate travel service, is that we extend our full-service travel management to executive level clientele. These individuals, in high-stress roles, with many demands on their valuable time need to be able to put their feet up. We manage their leisure travel with the same dedication and expertise as with our corporate travel clients, meaning they can escape many of the stresses facing travel this summer!

Want to hear more? Get in touch to learn about exactly how we can revolutionize your corporate travel experience!