Canada frequently places near the top of worldwide rankings in a variety of topics but thousands of airline passengers would rather have not contributed to the dubious distinction achieved last weekend. Canadian airlines were the worst in the world for delays and cancellations over the Canada Day long weekend. Only the Greek regional carrier Olympic Air was even close to the performance of Canada’s four major carriers.
Air Canada took the top spot with 717 delays, 65 percent of its schedule, on Saturday and Sunday, more than 14 percent worse than the nearest contenders. Jazz and Air Canada Rouge were at 53 percent and Westjet and Swoop were at 55 percent. Pearson Airport was the second worst in the world for delays. Air Canada is cutting 15 percent of its flights over the summer to stem the disruptions but there have been no similar announcements from the other majors.