(Reuters) – Shares of Air Canada fell 7% on Thursday, a day after the carrier trimmed its domestic flight schedule for the next two months as North American airlines struggle with worker and aircraft shortages amid strong travel demand.
The Canadian company said in a statement late on Wednesday that it would cut its flight schedule to reduce passenger flows to manageable levels.
“With the changes started yesterday we are reducing our schedule, on average, by 77 round trips (or 154 flights) per day in total for July and August. Prior to this, Air Canada operated on average about 1,000 flights a day,” the airline said.
Persistent staffing shortages, fewer flights and booming demand have cast a shadow on the busy July Fourth holiday weekend and the entire summer travel season.
Analysts and some industry executives don’t see a meaningful improvement in conditions before fall, when travel demand tends to slow down.
Shares of American Airlines Group Inc, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines Holdings Inc were also down between 4% and 6%, amid a fall in broader U.S. markets on worries that the central bank’s determination to tame inflation would hamper global economic growth. [.N]
Airlines on Monday canceled over 700 flights in the United States, after adverse weather conditions, staffing shortages restricted operations.
(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
