Airlines
Air Transat Double Winner at Mercuriades Awards
Air Transat has won two Mercure awards – for Large Business of the Year and for Sustainable Development – at the Mercuriades awards gala in recognition of its program for green dismantling of end-of-life aircraft. The project, completed in 2013, saw two Airbus A310s eco-responsibly and sustainably dismantled, with 87% of the aircrafts’ components reclaimed. “We are honoured to receive these two awards,” says Jean-François Lemay, general manager of Air Transat. “Air Transat has once again shown itself to be a leader in sustainable development with this innovative...
Transat Kicks Off Second #TransatAuction
Transat has launched the second edition of the #TransatAuction, a one-of-a-kind online event with all proceeds going to the organization SOS Children’s Villages. On April 23, flights to some of Air Transat’s most popular European destinations, departing from seven Canadian cities, will be up for grabs in a live auction on Twitter. Web users across Canada will be able to submit bids on 20 flights from Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, St. John’s and Halifax to multiple European cities including Athens, Prague, Budapest, Rome, London and Paris. All amounts...
CanJet Clarifies Its Situation
CanJet Airlines, which is reportedly laying off 47 pilots and 68 flight attendants, has released a statement regarding staff reductions saying it will be allocating aircraft to be positioned in the European market for the coming summer season. The reallocation of the summer aircraft will see CanJet Vacations looking to partner with other airlines for the summer program. “We are currently exploring options with other carriers,” said Chris Kelly, VP of business planning. “We are hopeful we will be able to offer a summer program as planned.” “The support from our...
WestJet Launches Fredericton Service
WestJet celebrated the launch of twice-daily, non-stop service between Toronto and Fredericton, New Brunswick, yesterday. Flights are operated by WestJet Encore using its fleet of 78-seat, Canadian-made Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft. “Fredericton is an important destination that represents our commitment to bring increased competition and lower fares to Atlantic Canada,” said Ferio Pugliese, WestJet executive vice-president, and president, WestJet Encore. “We know that traffic at new WestJet Encore destinations can increase by as much as 40 to 55% after we launch service,...
Air Canada Confirms Ratification of New Contract
Air Canada has received confirmation from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) representing the airline's US-based workforce that a new collective agreement reached Feb. 4 has been ratified. The new agreement is in effect until June 30, 2019. “We are very pleased our US-based employees have ratified their new collective agreement,” said Klaus Goersch, executive vice-president and chief operating officer. “I thank both bargaining teams for their hard work, and our employees for achieving this outcome. Following agreements concluded in recent months with our pilots...
KLM Agent Contest
KLM is giving agents a chance win tickets to Europe with the new “The Edmonton-Amsterdam nonstop KLM contest,” launched to mark new service between the two cities beginning May 19. All KLM bookings from anywhere in Canada are automatically entered. The prizes are two pairs of Canada-Europe tickets – one pair in World Business Class and one pair in Economy. Until June 30, agents can sign up for the contest by answering the qualifying question. Afterwards, they can register each ticket they sell with a departure until July 31. Tickets sold from Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and...
Bucking The Trend
The parlous state of the dollar versus its US counterpart appears to be biting into the price-sensitive transborder drive segment but not the air travel market, according to Montreal editor, Mike Dunbar in this week's digital edition of Canadian Travel Press. That’s borne out by the latest crop of StatsCan numbers, which shows that overnight land traffic to the United States was down 6.9% in January – with day-tripping falling a whopping 14% -- while the number of air travellers grew 5.7%. It’s only the third January since record-keeping began in 1970 that the air travel total...
WestJet Takes Flight With The Toronto Blue Jays
WestJet has inked a new major-league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays, ensuring the blue and teal remain part of Canada's team through the 2019 baseball season. Partners since 2012, WestJet and the Toronto Blue Jays will feature a newly branded fan area called the “WestJet Flight Deck” located directly under the main video board in centrefield at Rogers Centre. As in prior seasons, the standing-room-only area will be open to all Blue Jays ticket holders who want to see the game from a different vantage point, on a first-come, first-served basis. The five-year deal also includes...