Airlines
Strengthening Connections
Both Air Canada and the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) are welcoming the signing of an expanded Canada-Mexico Air Transport agreement. Derek Vanstone, vice-president of corporate strategy, industry and government affairs at Air Canada, said of the new deal that: "Mexico is an important market for Air Canada and this expanded agreement will further strengthen air linkages between Canada and our NAFTA partner. Among other things it provides an open framework for direct flights, introduces more commercial flexibility and contains provisions for safety and security." And...
Deal Us In
International Airlines Group (IAG) has renewed its multi-year, full content agreements for British Airways and Iberia with Travelport. The agreements, which take place with immediate effect, give Travelport-connected travel agents worldwide access to published fares and inventory on all British Airways, Iberia and Iberia Express flights. In addition the airlines will continue to work with Travelport to add ancillary content. Both airlines are also working with Travelport to trial its Rich Content and Branding technology, a component of the Travelport Merchandising Platform. The...
More, More, More
Air Canada rouge has started non-stop service between Montreal and Orlando, offering two daily departures from Montreal. The service is year round and represents a 30% capacity increase this summer compared to Air Canada service last year. With the launch of the increased Montreal service, there's now more Air Canada/Air Canada rouge non-stop service between Canada and Orlando than any other carrier, with Air Canada flights from Halifax and Ottawa and Air Canada rouge flights from Toronto and Montreal. Air Canada rouge offers convenient morning departures daily for those customers...
A Definite Cachet
In this week's edition of Travel Courier, Ian Stalker reports that Icelandair will be adding an additional flight from Edmonton this summer, with the carrier noting the move comes as a result of "high demand." The new flight will operate on Tuesdays, and with the additional departure, Icelandair now offers flights up to five days a week with non-stop service to Iceland and connections to more than 20 destinations in Europe. Earlier this year, Icelandair previously announced an early launch date of March 5 and increased the seasonal flight schedule to year-round service from...
Sweet Deals
For Cathay Pacific Airways, Valentines isn't just a single day. No, the carrier is celebrating the special day for a whole week and is offering savings of from 20% to 22% on its economy class airfares from Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa to select cities in Asia including Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Taipei, Bangkok and Chiang Mai. So how good are these deals? Well, examples of these round-trip Economy Class airfares include: Toronto to Hong Kong for CDN$1,174; Toronto to Chiang Mai for CDN$1,266; Ottawa to Taipei for $1,368; Ottawa to Bangkok for CDN$1,381; Montreal to Guangzhou for $1,291; and...
An Entertaining Solution
WestJet has signed a multi-year agreement with Panasonic Avionics Corporation to provide the airline with a new inflight entertainment system with the ability to feature wireless satellite internet connectivity, live streaming television, on-demand movies, magazines and more. Passengers will be able to use their own personal electronic device (PED) or laptop computer to receive live and stored content streamed wirelessly from a server on board each WestJet Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft. Airtime packages will also be available to surf the internet, access email or plan a vacation...
The Future Of Comfort
A newly released study forecasts that by 2032, the Asia region will account for 45% of global passengers; as well as making them the dominant air travellers of the 21st century shaping the future economy class experience. The "Future of Comfort: Asia" study was published by Airbus -- conducted by Future Laboratory -- and it looks at the comfort demands of Asian economy class passengers, revealing new insights into the evolving demands of tomorrow's increasingly influential Asian air passengers. The research also reveals two emerging typologies of Asian travellers who, due to the...
Open To The World
Greater Moncton International Airport reports that once again in 2013, it saw "healthy increases" in its passenger traffic. In 2013, the number of passengers at the airport rose to 647,682, a 5.3% increase over 2012 (615,085) and a nearly 12% increase over 2011 (579,329). These customers flew on the GMIA's main airline partners, including Air Canada Express, the airline offering the most frequency from Greater Moncton, as well as Porter, WestJet and United. A significant increase was also noticed coming from chartered aircraft (Flair and Canadian North) transporting mobile workers...