Airlines
A Perfect Fit
Air Transat has signed an agreement with AerCap for the long-term (12-year) leasing of 10 Airbus A321neo long-range aircraft. The aircraft are to be delivered between spring 2019 and fall 2020, and will replace Transat’s Airbus A310s, which will be gradually retired from the fleet. The A321neo LRs will be deployed on both Sun destinations and transatlantic routes. Combined with the Airbus A330s and Boeing 737s, they will serve Transat’s entire network in an efficient and cost-effective way. Air Transat’s A321neo LRs will be configured for 200 seats across both classes:...
WestJet Turns Up The Heat
WestJet has launched an Early Booking Bonus on eligible WestJet Vacations packages to anywhere in Mexico, the Caribbean or Hawaii where each guest on the booking can receive an additional 100 WestJet dollars. Lyell Farquharson, vice-president, sales and business development for WestJet, said: “WestJet is giving our guests an even greater incentive to book early and secure their spot in the sun this coming winter." The Early Booking Bonus is available to WestJet Rewards members on WestJet Vacation packages anywhere in Mexico, the Caribbean or Hawaii with a minimum package price of...
Simple And Fast
Mastercard reports that Masterpass is now available on http://www.aircanada.com and http://www.vacations.aircanada.com and helps travellers get from booking to vacation-mode a lot faster. Air Canada joins a rapidly expanding roster of travel sites offering fast, easy and secure digital payment with Masterpass. Duncan Bureau, vice-president, global sales for Air Canada, said that: “Air Canada is committed to continually enhancing the entire travel experience, including making it as easy as possible for customers to make purchases from Air Canada and Air Canada Vacations....
Time For A Reset
The US Travel Association is hoping that a scathing report detailing America’s crumbling air transport infrastructure will spur remedial action from ``the very highest levels” of the federal government, reports Montreal editor, Mike Dunbar in this week's digital edition of Canadian Travel Press. Not only will the upcoming report catalogue the current shortcomings and inevitable future capacity crunch spawned by decades of non-investment, it will also provide Washington lawmakers with a series of recommendations designed to cure the sector’s ills, according to the association’s...
IATA Retiring YY Fares
IATA is rescinding YY Fares from Oct. 31, 2018. The decision to rescind YY Fares was taken with a vote by the IATA Passenger Tariffs Conference on June 28. The rescinding of YY fares reflects the dramatic transformation that continues to take place in the distribution of airline products. YY fares are IATA multilateral interlineable fares. Established in 1945, they successfully enabled consumers to purchase a single ticket in a single currency, giving worldwide travel options on different airlines and luggage checked through to final destination. Until the 1980’s most...
IATA By The Numbers
IATA reports that global passenger traffic results for May showed that demand – measured in revenue passenger kilometers, or RPKs – rose 7.7% compared to the same month in 2016. That was slower than the 10.9% growth recorded in April, however, IATA notes that this was still well ahead of the 5-year and 10-year average growth rates. Capacity climbed 6.1%, and load factor rose 1.2 percentage points to 80.1%, which was a record high for the month. All regions, excluding the Middle East and North America, posted record-high May load factors. After adjusting for inflation, airfares...
Record Setting Results
Air Canada carried close to one million customers throughout the six-day holiday period, during which it achieved a single-day record for passengers carried. On Thurs., June 29, AC welcomed aboard 166,850 customers – a record for Canada's flag carrier – and from June 29 to July 4 over 930,000 customers took flight with Air Canada. Calin Rovinescu, president and chief executive officer of Air Canada, observed: “As Canadians celebrated our country's 150th birthday, Air Canada was hard at work safely transporting record numbers of customers to their destinations. This continues...
Off The Beaten Path In Germany
The German National Tourist Office, Lufthansa and the state of Bavaria teamed up to host a group of top travel executives from Canada late last month. The group included Kim Clarke, director of sales, Globus family of brands; Mike Foster, president, Nexion Travel; Franca Iuele, director of marketing Canada, Ensemble Travel Group; Penny Martin, vice-president, The Travel Agent Next Door; Brett Walker, general mManager, Collette Vacations; and Antje Splettstoesser, director, German National Tourist Office. Splettstoesser provided Press Today with a first hand report on the trip and what...