Airlines
Porter Airlines Shifts Restart Of Flights To June 29
Porter Airlines will be extending its temporary suspension of all flights due to COVID-19 by four weeks until June 29. The airline stopped flying on March 21, as travel restrictions and public health measures were increasing in North America. Michael Deluce, president and CEO of Porter Airlines, explained: “Our initial restart date of June 1, was something we believed was reasonable at the time.” However, he continued: “While there are many promising signs about how COVID-19 is being contained, it is also clear that border restrictions, government-imposed stay-at-home...
Sunwing Will Use CEWS To Bring Back Staff
Sunwing Travel Group is bringing 1,800 employees back onto its payroll through the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) program. The move provides Sunwing’s Canada-based employees with additional financial support for the duration of the wage subsidy’s term. Stephen Hunter, CEO of Sunwing Travel Group, said: “Sunwing was formed on a vision of not only being a high-quality vacation company, but also providing high-quality jobs for Canadians. Unfortunately, during these unprecedented times we had been forced to reduce our workforce.” Hunter continued: “Throughout this...
Revenue Losses Mount, More Jobs At Risk: IATA
A growing number of jobs are at risk as European airlines report increasing revenue losses as passenger traffic continues to drop. Calling for urgent government action to preserve air services, IATA says that the potential revenue loss by European carriers in 2020 has grown to $89 billion and passenger demand (measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometers) is projected to be 55% below 2019 levels. Previous estimates by IATA – released March 24 – showed revenue losses of $76 billion and a passenger demand drop of 46%. Overall, IATA is estimating that the present 90% collapse in air...
A Lasting Impact
It is not a pretty picture for the travel and tourism industry, but there is hope. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), up to 50 million jobs in the sector are at risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic and global travel could be adversely impacted by up to 25% in 2020 -- equivalent to a loss of three months of global travel. Zongqing Zhou, PhD, professor at the College of Hospitality and Tourism Management of Niagara University, says that “the impact of COVID-19 is going to be more lasting and game-changing for the country's airlines than even 9/11 and the...
WestJet Makes More Domestic Flight Changes
WestJet is making further changes to its domestic flight schedule, removing about 4,000 weekly flights -- or 600 daily flights -- from May 5 through June 4, 2020. The carrier says the changes are needed to address significantly reduced guest demand during the COVID-19 crisis. While some city pairings have been temporarily removed, WestJet continuesto serve the 38 Canadian airports to which we currently operate, ensuring that those with essential travel requirements can get where they need to be and that cargo goods like blood, medical products and food supplies can continue to...
Inside Brussels Airlines
After the temporary suspension of all of its flights, Brussels Airlines has parked and stored its entire fleet (with the exception of a few aircraft on standby to bring stranded Belgians home) at Brussels Airport. Carrier officials observe that: “If you think this is a simple task, just like parking a car, you should guess again. Storing an Airbus A330 takes about 400 man hours, as our Maintenance & Engineering teams meticulously follow Airbus manufacturer instructions to make sure that our birds are stored safely.” And that, the carrier notes “means that all windows are...
The Double Whammy
The combination of personal economic worries and lingering concerns about the safety of travel will result in a slow recovery for air travel demand and IATA is calling on government around the world to help the industry restore consumer confidence. IATA’s director general and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac said that: “Passenger confidence will suffer a double whammy even after the pandemic is contained -- hit by personal economic concerns in the face of a looming recession on top of lingering concerns about the safety of travel. Governments and industry must be quick and coordinated with...
Air Canada Temporarily Suspending US Flights
Air Canada is suspending its scheduled service to the U.S. after April 26 as a result of the agreement between the governments of Canada and the United States to extend border restrictions by an additional 30 days, effective today. The carrier said it plans to resume service to the U.S. May 22, subject to any further government restrictions beyond that date. As a result, Air Canada is waiving change fees for affected customers with bookings during this period to enable them to reschedule their travel with no additional fee. Customers can find more information about Air...