Calgarians hoping for a Hawaiian vacay this holiday season may want to change plans — or find an alternate route across the ocean — after Air Canada eliminated routes to sun destinations this winter, due to a lack of pilots..The airline confirmed on Wednesday, that it has cancelled half a dozen Calgary routes to Los Angeles, Cancun, Frankfurt, Halifax and even Ottawa after Halloween, the unofficial start of the holiday season..It’s all a part of a plan to “improve the overall stability of the carrier,” it said in a statement.."We apologize for the impact on customers on affected routes, who will be offered alternate travel options, including re-routing over other airports, or a full refund.”.The Montreal-based company said the cancellations would not result in any layoffs. Rather, it blamed the move on an industry-wide shortage of pilots along with what it says are “resource pressures” resulting in delays across the supply chain for pilots, planes, parts and even maintenance schedules.."Additional constraints are arising from challenges in the overall supply-chain in the complex aviation environment, including in maintenance parts supply chains, sometimes resulting in delays to return aircraft to service,” it added. .“This has led to a review of the network schedule to ensure resources are deployed most efficiently and productively against these current, ongoing industry considerations.”.Despite the rerouting, Air Canada said it is increasing its overall capacity by 12% this winter compared to last year..The nation’s flagship carrier said it remains committed to Western Canada and Calgary in particular. But now those flights will be rerouted through Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.
