Battered Southwest Airlines says it expects to operate at something approaching full strength.
Following one of the worst performances in U.S. aviation history, with more than 13,000 cancelled flights since December 22, the airline says it expects to operate with “minimal disruptions” on the day before New Year’s Eve.
Southwest cancelled 2,362 flights on Thursday (57% of all scheduled departures), according to FlightAware.Com. But the website shows only 41 cancellations (1% of flights) as of 11 a.m. Eastern Time today (Dec. 30, 2022).
Thousands of passengers are still trying to find their way home, or to their final destination, following day upon day of mass cancellations. Airports around the U.S. report mountains of suitcases waiting for owners to claim them.
“Southwest Airlines is operating our normal schedule on Friday, Dec. 30,” the Dallas-based company said on its website. “We appreciate the dedicated work of the Southwest Team to restore our schedule, and we anticipate minimal disruptions for the weekend.
“Once again, we value the continued patience and support of our valued Customers, and we apologize for the inconveniences of the past week. If needed, we offer several methods for Customers to seek support from us:
Customers affected through the operational disruption can find additional assistance at: https://www.southwest.com/traveldisruption/.
Those specifically needing assistance reuniting with baggage can find information here: https://www.southwest.com/baginfo/.”
SUNWING PASSENGERS STILL STRANDED – SASKATCHEWAN FLIGHTS CANCELLED
An undetermined number of Canadians appear to still be stranded in Mexico after Sunwing cancelled their flights back home.
In a tweet dated December 28, 2022, Sunwing (@SunwingVacations) said that “Our teams locally and in destination continue to work through the backlog of flights in order to return our customers home as soon as possible. We have 40 recovery flights planned for this week so far, 18 of which have already operated or will be complete by end of day today.”
In response to a customer complaints this morning (Dec. 30), Sunwing said on twitter that “a number of northbound and southbound Sunwing flights continue to be impacted by delays. We are working hard on ensuring that all systems are updated as delays happen.”
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said earlier this week that the delays in getting Sunwing passengers home were “unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, Sunwing said it’s cancelling all flights in and out of Regina and Saskatoon until Feb. 3, 2003.
“We regret to inform Sunwing customers in Saskatoon and Regina that, due to extenuating circumstances, we are unfortunately cancelling our operations from both airports,” the company said on its website. “The cancellations will take immediate effect and apply to travel from both airports up to and including Friday, February 3, 2023.
“Sunwing had initially planned to supplement seasonal demand for travel from Saskatoon and Regina with the assistance of temporary foreign pilots for the winter months. When foreign pilot deployment was not agreed to, we brought in subservices to sustain our operations, however the conditions and schedule have proven too significant for our subserviced aircraft partners. We have attempted to reposition Sunwing aircraft to support but have been unable to do so as a result of flight delays and cancellations brought on by recent weather disruptions, and heavy demand over the peak holiday period.
“We recognize that, despite our best efforts, we have failed to deliver on our customers’ expectations, and we deeply apologize for not meeting the standards of service our Saskatoon and Regina customers rightfully expect.”
The Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver. JIM BYERS PHOTO
CANADIAN HOTELS ON THE REBOUND
The latest data from CoStar and STR finds that Canadian hotel occupancy for November, 2022 was higher than it was pre-pandemic, Travel Daily News reports.
Figures for November 2022 show an occupancy rate of 61%, up 1.6% from November of 2019. The average daily rate was $169.69; up 14.8% from November, 2019. Revenue per available room was up 16.6% to $104.98 for November, 2022, an encouraging sign for a battered Canadian hotel industry.
“Top-line performance recovery showed astounding strength in November, reinforcing that travel is still a priority despite high inflation and a dimming economic outlook,” said Laura Baxter, CoStar Group’s director of hospitality analytics for Canada.
WORLD AWAITS CHINESE TOURISTS WITH OPEN ARMS (WELL, MOSTLY)
Asian countries are bracing for an influx of Chinese tourists as COVID restrictions are dismantled, and while some are wary, operators in others are preparing packages such as hotpot buffets to cash in on the expected spike in travel, Reuters reports.
“Chinese tourists will no longer need to quarantine on return home starting Jan. 8, the government announced this week, a move that spurred a surge in bookings from what was the world’s largest outbound travel market in 2019,” the news outlet stated.
Worried about a surge in cases and unreliable reporting of COVID-19 infection numbers in China, the United States and several other countries have slapped new travel restrictions on incoming visitors from China, Macau and Hong Kong. Canada has yet to follow suit. Australia, which attracts a great number of Chinese visitors, also has not followed the Biden administration’s lead.
CNN reports that the tourism departments and embassies of France, Thailand, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Switzerland all posted messages on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, inviting Chinese tourists.
“Chinese friends, France welcomes you with open arms!” the French embassy wrote on Weibo. The Thai national tourism administration wrote: “Thailand has been waiting for you for three years!”
CANADIAN AIRLINES FARE POORLY IN NEW ON-TIME FLIGHT STUDY
Canada’s two major airlines finished at the bottom of a recent survey of on-time airline performance.
Cirium Aviation Analytics studied te 10 largest airlines in Canada and the United States, and states that Air Canada was 10th, with some 55.6% of flights arriving on time (within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival). The data doesn’t include the recent round of cancellations and delays due to pre-Christmas snowstorms.
Cirium said WestJet was ninth out of 10 airlines in it study,, with 60.7% of its roughly 89,000 flights on-time.
Delta Air Lines finished on top, with roughly 84% of flights on time.
