Airlines
Carriers Taking Off To USVI
The U.S. Virgin Islands are gearing up to welcome more airlift this summer. Following a meeting with American Airlines in Dallas, Texas on Friday, U.S. Virgin Islands Commissioner of Tourism Joseph Boschulte announced that the nation’s largest carrier will expand its service to the Territory to meet increased demand for summertime travel. Beginning on June 3, 2021, passengers in Dallas or connecting from Western and Midwestern cities will have not one but two daily flights from which to choose when traveling to St. Thomas, while Charlotte, North Carolina-based travelers will benefit...
Swoop Gears Up For Summer
Swoop is expanding its summer schedule, adding new routes and more ultra-low fares to British Columbia. The airline's expanded summer operations will bring new service to Victoria and celebrates the return and addition of new routes from Kelowna. Charles Duncan, President of Swoop, said: “Our summer schedule expansion is in response to strong advance sales and in anticipation of demand from Canada's most price-conscious travellers as they look towards the accelerated pace of vaccine rollouts across the country.” Duncan added: “We are thrilled to be offering Canadians even...
Wrestling With The Issues
Those eager to kickstart this country's tourist trade must do more than convince potential tourists that it's once again safe to hit the road, a March 30 TIAC webinar was told. Joe Naaman of consulting firm Twenty31 wondered how those in tourism can “unscare” people who may be nervous that it's safe to again explore this country but also cautioned that those who do vacation in Canada must be received well on their vacations. Those in the hospitality trade must “make sure people (in hosting communities) are enthusiastic about tourism and are welcoming to visitors,” he...
Loyalty Is A Two-Way Street
Air Canada is updating Aeroplan Elite Status members to let them know that it is ensuring their status remains in effect and to give them flexibility and certainty. The changes include the extension of current Elite Status until the end of 2022, in addition to a previous extension through 2021, as well as the possibility to accelerate their status qualification in the years ahead. Mark Nasr, Senior Vice President, Products, Marketing and eCommerce at Air Canada, said that: “Loyalty is a two-way street, and we understand and appreciate why so many of your travel plans are interrupted...
Flair Lands In Montreal
Flair Airlines is expanding service to include Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL) starting July 1, 2021, with direct flights to Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax and Abbotsford. The addition of Flair’s service to Montreal marks a milestone for the airline as it brings the first domestic ULCC service to the region. Flair’s network continues to grow within Canada as new aircraft are added to their fleet and preparation continues for the safe restart of travel. Flair’s ambitious expansion focuses on domestic markets first, ensuring all Canadians are connected with affordable...
IATA Research Backs Rapid Testing For Restart Of Travel
IATA is urging governments to accept best-in-class rapid antigen tests in fulfillment of COVID -19 testing requirements following the publication of new research by OXERA and Edge Health. The OXERA-Edge Health report, commissioned by IATA, found that antigen tests are: Accurate: The best antigen tests provide broadly comparable results to PCR tests in accurately identifying infected travellers. The BinaxNOW antigen test, for example, misses just one positive case in 1000 travellers (based on an infection rate of 1% among travelers). And it has similarly comparable performance to...
Trillion Dollar Impact
The World Travel & Tourism Council’s annual Economic Impact Report (EIR) reveals the full and devastating impact of COVID-19 had on the global Travel & Tourism sector last year, which suffered a massive loss of almost US$4.5 trillion. The annual EIR from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, shows the sector’s contribution to GDP dropped a staggering 49.1%, this compared to the overall global economy which dropped by just 3.7% last year. Vast losses run up during 2020, paint the first full picture...
WestJet Adds 11 In Western Canada
WestJet is unveiling details of 11 new domestic routes across Western Canada. The routes will offer new nonstop service for 15 communities across Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The enhancements follow an announcement made earlier in the week to return previously suspended service to Atlantic Canada and Quebec City. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=3PpYUYvHtBM Ed Sims, WestJet President and CEO, said: “As we look to the coming months with cautious optimism, we know our restart agenda will be pivotal to Canada's economic...