Airlines
Good News, Bad News
In this week's Travel Courier, Mike Dunbar reports that it appears that the wheels have fallen off a five-year travel surge to the United States, with early year statistics showing cross-border overnight demand dropped 3% in February, following a 0.3% decline a month earlier. But there's still good news for the travel trade in the latest crop of numbers released by the US Department of Commerce. The air travel segment, which accounts for one-third of all arrivals, continues to hold up, posting a gain of almost 2% in the first two months of 2014. In his analysis of the figures,...
WestJet Launches Additional YYC Service
WestJet has launched new daily non-stop service from Calgary International Airport to New York (JFK) and Prince George, BC. “John F. Kennedy International Airport is the busiest international passenger gateway in the United States and a hub for our US partners, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines,” said John Weatherill, WestJet’s director, Network and Schedule Planning. “With our WestJet code on some 17 flights from JFK, this new daily non-stop service from Calgary offers Canadians low fares and our remarkable guest experience to even more destinations around the...
Four Major Airlines Choose Amadeus Cars
Amadeus has announced that four major airlines – Air France, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways and TAM – have recently implemented Amadeus Cars, which will enable them to generate additional revenue by offering their clients car rental services through their web sites. With these four new implementations, a total of 14 airlines worldwide now use Amadeus Cars. Amadeus Cars comprises of a range of online solutions that allow airlines maximum flexibility when offering car rental to their customers, and which can be adapted to match the airline web sites’ look and feel. The airline is able...
Porter Introduces Stephenville-Halifax Service
Porter Airlines is introducing seasonal service between Stephenville, NL, and Halifax. From June 28 to Aug. 31, Porter will operate one weekly round-trip flight, with introductory one-way fares beginning at $163, including all fees and taxes. Flights are now available for booking. Stephenville is Porter’s fourth destination in Atlantic Canada, with flights already operating from Halifax, Moncton and St. John’s. Between June 28 and Aug. 31, Porter will offer a Saturday flight departing from Halifax at 4:55 p.m. and landing in Stephenville at 6:35 p.m. A return flight departs...
KLM Promotion Celebrates King’s Day
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is marking King’s Day in the Netherlands with promotional fares starting at $949 on Economy class flights to Amsterdam. These fares apply to departures from Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, and for a $150 supplement, Calgary and Vancouver as well. The promotion runs until April 28 for departure dates from Oct. 16 to Dec. 10 and Dec. 25 to May 6. For departures May 7 to June 18 and Sept. 11 to Oct. 15, fares are $999 and $1,149,...
Smiles Year-Round
In this week's issue of Canadian Travel Press, executive editor, Bob Mowat reports that the Canadian travel trade is going to be hearing a lot more about Ireland in 2014 and beyond as the destination finds itself with a wealth of air access and a host of opportunities that will allow it to take its tourism activities in the Canadian market to the next level. A host of new air services -- both year-round and seasonal -- are coming on stream in 2014, including the arrival of Aer Lingus after an absence of 35 years. The Irish carrier launched year-round service between Toronto and Dublin...
Punta Cana Airport to Get New Terminal
In preparation for increased demand, the Punta Cana Group has announced that a new terminal is being added at Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) with capacity to receive the largest passenger airliner in the world, the double-deck Airbus A380. The new terminal at PUJ will have seven doors and will have capacity to receive up to 26 airplanes simultaneously. It will be air-conditioned and offer indoor deplaning. Punta Cana International Airport is the ninth largest in travel volume in Latin America. In 2013, it moved five million passengers, including 2.5 million non-residents....
It’s All About Relationships
Etihad Airways welcomed a group of Canada’s top travel agents, tour operators and airline officials to a special “Thank You” event in Toronto on April 16. Hosted by Sportsnet’s Evanka Osmak -- not a surprising choice, considering Etihad has taken a sponsorship role in a number of major sports, most recently announcing a sponsorship partnership with Major League Soccer -- the evening affair at Toronto’s Four Season’s hotel was all about the importance of relationships. In fact, Etihad’s general manager here in Canada, James Harrison told the gathering that in the eight...