Air Canada is profiting more than even Loblaws despite flurry of customer complaints

Air Canada can proudly add itself to the list of Canadian companies — ones that exist in oligopolies with competition scarcity, of course — that is still making enraging amounts of money despite constant customer complaints and public backlash.

The airline posted some very impressive second-quarter financial results from the last few months on Friday, taking in an astonishing $5.4 billion in revenue and earning $838 million after expenses and interest.

$838M for the worst on time performance airline in North America.

— Darcy Peters (@Darcy1Peters) August 11, 2023

This marks a ginormous 36 per cent increase in earnings in Q2 2023 compared to Q2 2022, and a $1.2 billion jump in net income compared to the same time last year, when COVID restrictions hit the travel sector hard and resulted in huge losses.

Executives attribute the results to the return of a strong demand for travel, with more than 11 milion people flying with Air Canada in the last quarter alone.

They also say somewhat ominously in their press release announcing the news that their success "shows the effectiveness of our plan," presumably one to improve business and bounce back from the pandemic (and, some would argue, screw over consumers).

As always, the priority for @AirCanada employees is its shareholders, not its customers. They know the customers will come back for more because there's little or no competition!

— BrianM (@briangm11) August 11, 2023

Meanwhile, only about 54 per cent of Air Canada's flights actually arrived on-time last year, putting it in last place in a recent ranking of how well North American airlines stick to their schedules. The vast majority of Canadians, as a result, do not consider our carriers reliable anymore.

Delays, lost luggage and pets, and ruined trips are unfortunately par the course when flying in Canada, just like overpaying for groceries amid a cost of living crisis while Metro and Loblaws rake in hundreds of millions.