Airlines
WestJet Partners With The Chopped Leaf
WestJet has partnered with fresh casual restaurant, The Chopped Leaf, in a move that will see the restaurant's whole-food offerings available on board WestJet aircraft. “WestJet and The Chopped Leaf have a common goal to break down the 'airline food' stigma,” said Rossen Dimitrov, WestJet chief guest experience officer. “The ingredients in our new menu have been sourced to provide healthier options with quality and taste in mind. We continue to evolve our onboard offerings to meet the needs of our 22 million annual guests.” “WestJet values are very similar to ours at The...
WestJet Unveils Canada’s First Boeing 737 MAX
In an aviation first for Canada, WestJet has unveiled its first Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, one of 50 scheduled for delivery in the next four years. “We are proud to make history as the first Canadian airline to receive the Boeing 737 MAX,” said Ed Sims, WestJet executive vice-president, Commercial. “The MAX's design updates, including Boeing's Advanced Technology winglets and the Boeing Sky Interior, will contribute to improvements in fuel efficiency and overall guest experience. We look forward to welcoming guests on board our sleek new aircraft along with our signature caring,...
Hawaii Flying High
Economic sustainability for the Hawaii tourism industry relies almost exclusively on the volume of airline traffic that flies into the islands, and between the islands. So delegates to the recent Global Tourism Summit held in Waikiki were pleased to hear a generally bullish outlook in the forecast for Hawaii's airline capacity in the near future, in a presentation by Brad DeFiore, managing director of Ailevon Pacific Aviation Consulting, reports western editor, Ted Davis in the Hawaii: Paradise Perfected supplement in the Oct. 9 issue of Canadian Travel Press. For example, his...
Are You Being Served?
In a move designed to provide better and faster support to home-based and smaller, independent agencies, Air Canada has rolled out Air Canada Liaison, reports executive editor, Bob Mowat in this week's digital edition of Canadian Travel Press. The self-service platform was launched earlier this year and is presently being used by over 100 agencies, and company officials are confident that its use by the agency community will continue to grow. In an exclusive interview, Air Canada's senior director, sales for Canada, Virgilio Russi told Canadian Travel Press that “we've found that...
It’s A Wrap!
WestJet has wrapped up its annual travel trade Expos, reporting that since April of this year, the events have reached over 4,000 travel agents in over 30 cities across Canada. Lyell Farquharson, vice-president, sales and distribution for WestJet, said that: “With our larger travel trade Expos in the spring of 2017, our fall Expos and local presentations hosted by WestJet's business development managers throughout the year, we have had the chance to have face-time with thousands of our agent partners.” Farquharson observed that: “Every year, we are adding more events and seeing...
Reshaping The Passenger Experience
IATA will be focusing on how technology, data, customization and digital transformation will reshape the customer experience of tomorrow at its 2017 World Passenger Symposium (WPS) which takes place in Barcelona, Spain from Oct. 24-26. Aleks Popovich, senior vice-president, financial and distribution services for IATA, observed, “Digital transformation is a key strategic driver for our industry. Our customers are telling us what they value through the choices they make: from their preferred digital device to shop for air travel, to what they purchase, to how they check-in, to their...
A Fair Exchange
Transat A.T. inc. and Thomas Cook Group Airlines have signed a seven-year agreement for the exchange of aircraft on a seasonal basis. Under the terms of the agreement, Thomas Cook will make available every winter to Air Transat a number of narrow body Airbus A321s and will receive at least one wide-body Airbus A330-200 in return. That exchange of aircraft will allow each of the companies to manage and utilize their fleets more efficiently. As well, the new deal takes advantage of the different seasonality of the two companies. Air Transat uses a greater number of smaller aircraft...
Demand Keeps Climbing
IATA reports that global passenger traffic data for August showed that demand (measured in total revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) climbed 7.2% compared to the year-ago period. At the same time, IATA said, the upward trend in seasonally-adjusted traffic has eased from that seen at the end of 2016. August capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased by 6.3%, and load factor climbed 0.7% percentage points to 84.5%, which was just below the record for the month set in 2015. Alexandre de Juniac, IATAs director general and CEO, noted that: “Following the strong summer...