Disney Opens in Florida, WestJet Bumps Up Summer Flights, Sunwing Extends Suspension

An interesting weekend for Florida and Disney fans. And also an interesting morning for Canadian airlines, with WestJet expanding while Sunwing offers more suspensions. Iberostar, meanwhile, will reopen 45 hotels around the world. My Future of Travel blog for Monday, July 13.

Disney Opens Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom in Orlando

Disney seemed to managed pretty well with its reopening of the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom on Sunday.

USA Today reports that Walt Disney World reopened to the public Saturday morning nearly four months after closing due to the widening coronavirus pandemic.

But what Disney-lovers returned to wasn’t what they left in March: there are many more safety precautions in place. It’s a totally different world for park visitors, who are required to have their temperature taken when they arrive. Face masks are mandatory, except when eating or swimming and hand-sanitizing stations are sprinkled throughout the park. 

The timing was unfortunate as the state of Florida on Sunday reported more than 15,000 new cases of COVID-19, a new record and the highest amount ever in one day for any U.S. state.

Disney plans to open Hollywood Studios and EPCOT on Wednesday of this week (July 15).

Disneyland, which is located in Anaheim, California, has shelved its plan to reopen July 17 due to the spike in that state. 

Canadian Airlines Off in Different Directions

Call it a tale of two airlines. Sunwing today said it won’t be flying to any southerly destinations before Aug. 16. That’s about a two-week extension of their previously announced decision to not operate any flights to sun destinations until July 31.

Meanwhile, WestJet says it’s expanding its July and August schedules, with an increase in domestic flights and more flights to Europe.

It might seem strange that WJ and Sunwing are taking wildly different paths, but it makes sense in that Sunwing is mostly used by Canadians heading to sun destinations such as the Caribbean and Mexico, and not many of us feel the need to fly south during the summer. WestJet, on the other hand, can take advantage of Canadians who want to explore more of their own country this summer, or perhaps nip over to Europe, which seems to have the coronavirus situation well in hand and which is generally welcoming Canadians to visit.

Here’s the WestJet press release from today:

WestJet today released its updated August schedule featuring more than 200 daily flights to 48 destinations across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, Mexico and Europe. The schedule features service to 39 domestic airports and further highlights the airline’s commitment to ensuring air service and regional connectivity is available to Canadians from coast-to-coast.

The updated schedule is supported by the layered framework WestJet has built to ensure Canadians can continue to travel safely and responsibly through the airline’s Safety Above All hygiene program. The airline continues to provide flexibility in booking, change and cancellation policies for guests.

“With the many safeguards and procedures in place, we are certain Canadians can safely resume travel to destinations across our network,” said Arved von zur Muehlen, WestJet Chief Commercial Officer. “We continue to adapt our schedule to meet the needs of our guests and through our continued investments economies can begin to recover with the support of domestic tourism driven by air travel.”

Between July 15 through to September 4, 2020, WestJet will increase domestic frequencies and offer operations to 48 destinations including 39 in Canada, five in the U.S., two in Europe, one in the Caribbean, one in Mexico.

The airline will reintroduce non-stop Dreamliner service from Calgary to London (Gatwick) and Paris effective August 20, 2020 and will continue to serve five key transborder destinations including Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York (LaGuardia) and Orlando. The airline will also offer service to Cancun, Mexico and will resume operations once-weekly to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Continued von zur Muehlen, “Despite these headwinds, we are committed to ensuring air travel remains affordable and accessible to Canadians from coast-to-coast during this difficult time. While an increase in flying is a positive sign, we are prudently monitoring our guests loads to ensure we are managing our airline and the health of our guests and crew responsibly.”

The August schedule reflects approximately a 10 per cent increase in flying from July, but a decrease of 75 per cent less flying from August 2019. It also includes select frequency reductions and temporary domestic route suspensions between stations across Canada due to continued border closures and provincial travel restrictions.  

“The patchwork of domestic travel restrictions and quarantine periods that are currently in place within our own borders are severely limiting Canada’s economic recovery and putting hundreds of thousands of jobs in our critical industry at risk,” said von zur Muehlen. “We must standardize intra-provincial travel advice to ensure Canadians can move safely and freely across our country.”

And here’s what’s on the Sunwing website today:

Sunwing Airlines is suspending all southbound flights between March 17^th and August 16^th.

Customers with departure dates for flights or vacation packages between March 17^th and August 16^th are eligible to receive a future travel credit in the value of the original amount paid. No action needed. Your original booking number will be the code of your future travel credit. We will communicate formally via the email address we have on file (including group travel bookings). You do not need to contact us.

This credit can be redeemed against future travel to anywhere Sunwing Airlines operates, depending on your original departure date:

• Original departure dates between March 17^th and May 31^st, 2020 are redeemable up to June 20^th, 2022
• Original departure dates June 1^st – August 16^th 2020, are redeemable up to August 31^st, 2022

Iberostar Reopening 45 Hotels

Iberostar is moving into the next phase of its calendar, kicking off the tourist season with the staggered opening of 45 hotels in nine countries around the world this summer. Starting with the Iberostar Cristina (Majorca) in June, the easing of restrictions allowed the chain to welcome its first local and international guests. With this experience we also put into practice new hygiene and safety measures and protocols, which  have been developed in partnership with a medical advisory board. Following this first re-opening, Iberostar is gradually resuming operations at the rest of its hotels in Europe and other international destinations. In Europe and the Mediterranean, the company is now operating in Montenegro and Tunisia, as well as Spain (Majorca and Andalusia). In the Americas, it has opened four hotels: in Cancún, Riviera Maya and Riviera Nayarit (Mexico) and one in Jamaica.

Over the summer months, Iberostar plans to open approximately 45 other hotels in destinations where it already operates, such as the Balearics, Canary Islands, Majorca, Montenegro and Tunisia. Europe, North Africa, Greece, Portugal and Morocco will also re-open, along with Cuba in the Americas. Guests will once again be able to enjoy the safe surroundings offered by Iberostar hotels, including Iberostar Selection Paraíso Maya, Iberostar Selection Playa Mita, Coral Level at Iberostar Selection Cancún in Mexico, and Iberostar Selection Rose Hall Suites in Jamaica.

London, Ontario Air Show Goes Ahead For September (With Changes)

Airshow London is extremely excited to announce their 2020 air show will take place September 12 and 13 as a drive-in format, offering Canada’s first socially responsible and physically distant air show. This new and innovative approach will continue to feature a traditional three-hour air display, but removed this year will be the static display (additional aircraft parked all weekend for visitors to climb aboard), food vendors and displays.

Airshow London has always adhered to advanced safety measures as the show’s highest priority is the well-being of guests, volunteers and performers. And now with COVID-19, new measures will be introduced that conform to public health guidelines to ensure an experience that minimizes risk to health and safety to everyone involved.

The airport grounds can accommodate close to 2500 cars with this socially responsible model. Guests will arrive with a pre-purchased ticket (1 ticket per vehicle) and be directed to park in their own 20 X 25-foot space to enjoy the show either inside or outside their vehicle. Guests can bring their own refreshments, listen to the show on their car radios, and utilize portable washrooms.

“We know how much the air show is enjoyed by the community, so while the impact of COVID-19 prevents us from producing our traditional-style event, we wanted to create a solution that minimizes risk and interaction while still offering an exciting and family-friendly event,” says Jim Graham, Chair, Airshow London.