Shrinking Airline Seats Draw Attention Of U.S. Transport Committee

The rapidly shrinking airline seat may be profitable for the carriers, but the discomfort for passengers has drawn the attention of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
 
An advisory committee will hear testimony today from expert witnesses, including the Federal Aviation Administration Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, the Centers for Disease Control, and the inventor of the Knee Defender, a gadget designed to prevent airline seats from reclining.

At issue is the move by many carriers toward higher density aircraft. Airlines around the world, including American Airlines, KLM, Air France and Emirates among others, are expanding their high-cost, high-margin first and business class sections, but they don't want to cut back on the number of paying passengers in economy. So they're installing lighter, narrower seats and squeezing rows closer together.

Air Canada, WestJet See Profit Boost With Checked Baggage Fees

MONTREAL - Checked baggage fees are paying off for Canada's two major airlines.

The charges are part of ancillary fees — which also include passenger fees for preferred seating, in-flight meals, and premium economy privileges — that airlines have tapped to boost profits.

"We'll use whatever tools we have at our disposal to drive profitability," Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu said this week during a conference call about its 2014 results, making reference to fee hikes, additional seating and raising airfares.

Air Canada defends charging staff for Disney training

Air Canada unveiled its new leisure travel airline brand this week by shining a spotlight on its new hipster-inspired style of flight attendant uniforms.

But some reports suggested its Monday fashion show — which was covered extensively in the Canadian media — was also a distraction from the reality about how its 150 younger new recruits were being treated.

Calin Rovinescu, Air Canada CEO, Sees Huge Hike In Compensation

MONTREAL - Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu's total compensation more than doubled to $9.5 million in 2012 thanks to a $5-million retention bonus.

The airline (TSX:AC.B) said Friday in a regulatory filing ahead of its annual meeting that Rovinescu's pay increased from $4 million in 2011.

Air Canada Rouge hopes to capture Disney magic

Air Canada’s new discount airline Rouge is calling in the gurus of customer service: Mickey and Minnie.

Rouge has hired the training arm of Walt Disney Co. to teach all of Rouge’s flight attendants the secrets of good customer service, with the hope of bringing some of that famed Disney magic to the skies.

Air Canada gets pension lifeline with strings attached

The federal government will give Air Canada some relief from its pension woes, allowing the airline more time to fill its $4.2 billion funding shortfall but putting a cap on executive compensation and stock dividends until it does.

Late Tuesday, Ottawa granted Canada's largest airline the lifeline it had sought in its pension problem, but made demands in return. Air Canada now has seven years to come up with at least $1.4 billion to fund the plan, and must put in at least $150 million in any given year until 2020. That's on top of regularly scheduled annual payments.

Labour minister intervenes in airport screener dispute in Atlantic Canada

OTTAWA - Canada's labour minister is growing concerned about the possibility of labour action by 800 airport screeners in the Atlantic provinces.

Lisa Raitt has asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to review the situation and ensure public safety would not be affected by a work stoppage.

The workers' current contract expires this Wednesday.

Air Canada wins in arbitration case against pilots

An arbitrator has sided with Air Canada, choosing its final offer over that put forward by its 3,000 pilots, ending the long-simmering contract dispute.

But it is unlikely to resolve morale and labour troubles at the airline.

“Air Canada pilots are angry at the way they have been treated by the government and their employer,” according to a statement issued by the Air Canada Pilots Association after Douglas Stanley released his decision Monday.

Air Canada brings in senior Harper aide Derek Vanstone

A senior aide to the prime minister is moving into a government affairs job with Air Canada, raising pointed questions about the strength of ethical rules governing the post-political lives of government staffers on Parliament Hill.

Derek Vanstone, currently Stephen Harper's deputy chief of staff, will become vice-president of corporate strategy and government affairs for the airline in September, Air Canada announced Thursday.

Air Canada names Derek Vanstone, Stephen Harper’s deputy chief of staff, as VP of government affairs

Air Canada has gone right to the Prime Minister’s office to find a senior executive to lead the airline’s government relations strategy.

Derek Vanstone is currently Harper’s deputy chief of staff and was previously chief of staff to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty from 2007 to 2010.

He will become the airline’s vice-president, corporate strategy, industry and government affairs, beginning Sept.10.

Air Canada looks to Ottawa again for pension help

Pension woes are back at the top of Air Canada’s concerns as the carrier seeks a new reprieve from retirement funding to avert a looming financial crisis.

Faced with a cash crunch in 2014, the country’s largest airline is preparing to ask Ottawa for another moratorium on company contributions to pensions, and to request other measures to ease the pressure.

Arbitrator chooses Air Canada contract for machinists

A federal arbitrator ruled in favour of Air Canada in its 14-month-old labour dispute with the company's unionized machinists.

Arbitrator Michel Picher ruled to impose the airline's final, five-year contract offer on Sunday.

According to the airline, the deal between Air Canada and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) includes changes to the pension plan for any new hires. The pension plan for current employees will not change.

Blue helmets cast aside, Canada keeps the peace no more

Once pre-eminent among peacekeeping nations with thousands of “blue berets” deployed around the world, Canada now ranks 53 – between Paraguay and Slovakia – on the United Nations contributors’ list with less than a schoolbus-load of Canadian soldiers serving on UN missions overseas.

Since then 1990s, successive Canadian governments, both Conservative and Liberal, have shunned traditional UN-mandated peacekeeping for U.S.-led war-fighting missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Libya. Those campaigns have eclipsed the UN as Ottawa’s favoured military expeditionary effort. From being the top contributor in the early 1990s, the Canadian commitment dropped precipitously from thousands, to hundreds a decade ago to only a few dozen in recent years.

Flight attendants fear for safety, leave Air Canada flight due to stench in plane: Reports

An Air Canada flight was delayed for more than three hours after flight attendants, fearing for their safety, left the plane due to a stench in the cabin, according to reports.

“The delay was due to a report of an unpleasant odour in the cabin, typically associated with oil in the ventilation system, which does not impact the safe operation of a flight,” Air Canada spokeswoman, Angela Mah, said in an email.

The flight, AC139, was scheduled to leave Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport at 1 p.m., and arrive at Vancouver International Airport shortly after 6 p.m., or 3 p.m. Vancouver time.

Instead, the flight took off at 4:18 p.m., and is expected to arrive just after 9:30 p.m., or 6:30 p.m. Vancouver time.

Air Canada Executive Pay Soared While Company Battled Employee Benefits, Shrinking Bottom Line

MONTREAL -- The compensation package for Air Canada's CEO fell 12 per cent last year, while the payouts of the airline's four other top executives soared even though continued losses drove its share price down more than 70 per cent.

Calin Rovinescu earned $4 million in 2011, down from $4.55 million a year earlier, but higher than the $2.6 million during his first nine months on the job in 2009, according to a proxy circular.

Chief financial officer Michael Rousseau, chief operating officer Duncan Dee, chief commercial officer Benjamin Smith and senior vice-president of operations David Legge each saw their compensation increase by between 18 per cent to nearly 47 per cent.

Base salaries remained mostly steady but each executive saw large gains in share and options-based awards while non-equity incentives fell.

Air Canada’s loss widens due to labour disruptions, Aveos bankruptcy

MONTREAL—Air Canada’s first-quarter loss was 11 times higher this year than in 2011 as the airline weathered higher fuel prices, work stoppages by some of its employees and the bankruptcy of the company that formerly overhauled its planes.

The Montreal company said Friday its net loss for the three months ended March 31 was $210 million, including $55 million attributed to discontinued operations at Aveos.

Air Canada’s continuing operations also lost more, as they felt the impact of substantially higher fuel prices and labour disruptions. Its loss from continuing operations rose to $93 million from $66 million in the first quarter of 2011.

A year earlier, the total first-quarter loss was $19 million.

“The quarter was marked by a challenging environment, with persistently high fuel prices and volatility which resulted in a significant increase in fuel expense of $147 million, or 20 per cent, from the previous year’s quarter,” Calin Rovinescu, Air Canada president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Air Canada Strikes: Airline Must Scrap Toxic Culture To Salvage Ailing Reputation, Experts

TORONTO - Air Canada must purge its toxic culture and attitude if it hopes to win back consumers frustrated with an airline increasingly known for labour strife and shaky service, industry observers are warning.

While the effects of the latest labour dispute faded over the weekend, some experts predict that persistent tensions within the ranks of Canada's largest airline have eroded the carrier's image beyond what slick ads and promotions can fix.

"There's a poisonous labour climate in there, and that's more than their image, it's already their identity now," said Gabor Forgacs of the Ted Rogers School of Management.

"If they want to right this ship, they need to make big changes," he said.

Experts believe that years of operating in a near-monopoly may have made the airline complacent.

But with upstart carriers such as WestJet and Porter Airlines nipping at its heels, salvaging its ailing reputation may be a matter of survival for Air Canada, Forgacs said.

A spokesman for Air Canada said many airlines around the world are facing similar challenges as they seek to transform their business models to respond to intensifying low cost competition.

Air Canada wins order declaring job action by pilots illegal

Air Canada (AC.B-T0.86----%) has won an order from the Canada Industrial Relations Board that declares job action by some pilots to be illegal.

The order requires the carrier’s 3,000 pilots to comply with the law, and cease any work stoppages – a development that came after Air Canada warned travellers of flight disruptions, saying some pilots walked off the job. More than 50 Air Canada flights were cancelled across the carrier’s system on Friday.

“The impact has been primarily on narrow-body aircraft serving domestic and transborder destinations. Our focus is on moving as many affected passengers as possible” through with measures such as deploying larger planes and adding flights, Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said.

The country’s largest airline had applied on Friday afternoon to the Canada Industrial Relations Board to obtain a declaration of an unlawful strike being staged. Air Canada’s legal manoeuvre meant that it revived its previous application to the labour board, stemming from flight disruptions blamed in part on pilots calling in sick during the March 17-18 weekend.

Air Canada had suspended its original complaint against the Air Canada Pilots Association for allegedly authorizing members to call in sick on March 17-18, but given the new disruptions, the carrier sought and won a declaration that Friday’s actions by some pilots are illegal – part of a “97 squared” group displaying defiance.

Air Canada flights cancelled and delayed after pilots call in sick

The disruptions from “a sickout” by frustrated pilots at Pearson appear to be having less impact than a bad snowstorm.

So far, 40 flights have been cancelled, but Air Canada officials do not know if the situation will escalate.

It appears most of the bookoffs are from pilots who fly the smaller narrow body aircraft, on shorter haul destinations.

Spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the delays will be felt across the country, even though bookoffs were concentrated in Toronto and Montreal—because aircraft are scheduled to go on to other destinations.

More: Travellers react to ‘sickout’ by Air Canada pilots

“Most pilots are working and reporting for duty,” Fitzpatrick said in an interview at the airport. “The vast majority of flights are leaving.”

But kids headed to a karate tournament in Alberta were left scrambling when their 6:30 a.m. flight to Calgary was cancelled.

“We have all had to make different arrangements,” said Lee-Ann Bouchard of Brampton whose 8-year-old daughter, Olivia, is participating in her first out of province tournament.

Pilots could stage ‘sickout’ Friday as labour relations continue to worsen at Air Canada

As labour relations at Air Canada continue to worsen, the airline has warned its pilots against any illegal job action amid talk of a possible “sickout” Friday.

Capt. Eddy Doyle, Air Canada’s director of flying operations, has raised concerns that pilots will be booking off sick on Friday when in fact they are fit to fly, according to an internal newsletter from Jean-Marc Belanger of the Air Canada Pilots Association, which represents 3,000 pilots.

Related: Air Canada March Break labour disruptions averted as labour minister blocks lockout, strike

Belanger said in the newsletter, sent Thursday, that there was no way to verify these allegations.

However, if they are accurate, “they have not been initiated or sanctioned by ACPA,” he said.

He went on to emphasize that the federal government’s back-to-work legislation prevents any strike or lockout as the contract dispute is to be settled through arbitration. The union has launched a constitutional challenge against the legislation.

Ottawa’s repeated intervention in contract talks at Air Canada, which has blocked scheduled strikes and a lockout of pilots, has angered employees.