Though the air travel industry may be celebrating the enthusiastic return of passengers to the skies — while said passengers suffer the consequences of such high demand after years of pandemic restrictions — Canada's biggest carrier has made a surprising move to actually cut back, rather than ramp up service in the coming months.

Air Canada issued a notice to customers this week that it will be slashing a huge number of its daily routes, which, although it "will have a negative impact on some customers," is actually to ensure that fewer flights are delayed or cancelled last-minute, as many have been.

"To bring about the level of operational stability we need, with reluctance, we are now making meaningful reductions to our schedule in July and August," the airline wrote in an email.

"This is in order to reduce passenger volumes and flows to a level we believe the air transport system can accommodate."

I received this email too. I think it’s better than finding out at the gate that a flight has been cancelled. I recently took a domestic flight with AC with a short delay and took a return flight with West Jet that was rebooked 3 times.

— Gemma Peralta (@MTLGemma) June 30, 2022

Around 154 flights (77 round trips) of the company's 1,000 or so daily flights will be cut during July and August.

Though it will potentially make nabbing a seat more difficult (and expensive), the change will hopefully mean a less hectic and unpredictable travel process, as well as better customer service for those flying with Air Canada.

The brand has also made some other amendments to alleviate the extra stresses of travelling as of late, including upping the minimum connection times for select international flights, rescheduling some flight times to off-peak hours, and reshuffling employees and resources.

It is also a strategy consumers may see more airlines turning to as they struggle to deal with a rapid return to non-essential travel and a clearly over-strained, under-staffed system that has led to hours-long lineups at check-in, security and customs points, flight delays and missed connections, baggage claim chaos and more.