Airlines
Mark de Jonge Named Air Canada Athlete of the Year
Canadian Olympic Canoe/Kayak Sprinter Mark de Jonge has been voted the winner of the Air Canada Athlete of the Year Award in a national online poll. The winner is chosen by a public vote from a short-list of finalists selected by a committee representing Air Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee, athletes, the government, media and also last year's Award winner. “Air Canada extends its heartfelt congratulations to Canadian Mark de Jonge who has been chosen to receive the Air Canada Athlete of the Year Award for 2015. Being an Olympian requires ongoing commitment, hard work and...
WestJet Expands Services from Toronto Pearson
WestJet is launching new non-stop services from Toronto Pearson to six destinations, flights that kicked off Friday (Dec. 11) with new twice-weekly service to West Palm Beach. Other new non-stop destinations include Huatulco, Merida and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, San Jose, Costa Rica and Sarasota, Florida. WestJet will operate 92 daily departures to 59 destinations from Toronto Pearson this winter, an increase of 7% and 13%, respectively, compared to last winter. WestJet's 2015 winter schedule also contains a number of new non-stop routes including Vancouver, Kitchener-Waterloo and...
Qatar Airways Debuts New Airbus A350
Qatar Airways debuted its new Airbus A350 at JFK airport in New York City Dec. 10, the first time the state-of-the-art vessel has appeared in North America. PressToday was on hand for the preview, which comes ahead of planned service to Philadelphia, Boston and JFK in 2016. The plane was launched on service from Doha to Frankfurt, Singapore and Munich in 2015. Watch for more news in upcoming issues of Canadian Travel Press and Travel...
WestJet’s Waterloo-Orlando Service Takes off
WestJet launched its new weekly non-stop seasonal service between Orlando, Florida and the Region of Waterloo International Airport yesterday (Dec. 10). WestJet has operated from Waterloo, Ont. since May 2007. In addition to the new Orlando service, the airline provides non-stop daily service between Waterloo and Calgary year-round with additional one-stop connections to a number of other Canadian cities. Orlando service will operate weekly through April 28, 2016 using WestJet’s Next Generation Boeing 737-700 series jet aircraft with 130...
Air New Zealand Celebrates in Toronto
While winter is just around the corner, it's a different story “Down Under” with destinations like New Zealand and Australia getting ready for the summer season. Air New Zealand and friends, including Chris Allison (pictured), manager, sales and market development, Canada, brought a taste of “kiwi summer” to Toronto's Dundas Square yesterday with its #sandmanselfie campaign, giving those taking a selfie (see below) at the booth a chance to win two tickets to New Zealand, as well as other prizes and giveaways. Guests could also try their hand at “surfing” aboard one of two...
WestJet Spreads The Holiday Cheer
Tis the season... it was a #WestJetChristmas come early as thousands of WestJet employees – led by Santa dressed in blue pants, jacket and hat – hit the streets and airports yesterday (Dec. 9) around the WestJet world with the goal of performing 12,000 random acts of kindness in a 24-hour period as part of WestJet's 12,000 Mini-Miracles Day. Beginning in Halifax, Santa travelled aboard a WestJet Boeing 737 where he will made stops in Toronto, Calgary, Yellowknife (delivering gifts by dogsled) and Vancouver (where he handed out toys at Ronald McDonald House B.C.). Santa was joined...
Air Transat Hosts Special Flights to the North Pole
For the 11th year in a row, Air Transat and The Children’s Wish Foundation teamed up to create a magical, unforgettable experience for hundreds of sick children across Canada as part of the Flights in Search of Santa event. These annual flights bound for the North Pole take off simultaneously from Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Air Transat is also donating more than $143,000 to the foundation, representing the amounts collected over the past year as part of the air carrier’s Small Change, Big Hearts program and other initiatives. The memorable day began at the Air Transat...
‘Less Poor Than We Were Before’
The International Air Transport Association has upped its industry-wide profit outlook for this year and next. The main beneficiaries will be North America's carriers, which will be reaping more more than half of the global total this year and next, according to the new numbers. IATA CEO Tony Tyler announced that the worldwide outlook for 2015 is now for a $33 billion net profit and $36.3 billion for 2016. The combined Canadian and US industry is expected to share more than $19 billion of the total take-home each year, reports Press Today's Mike Dunbar, who's attending IATA's...