A new look at the world’s best cities puts Vienna on top, but the top of the charts is dominated by cities in Canada and Australia. The Global Liveability Indes from Economist Intelligence looked at a variety of quality of life factors in cities around the world, including such issues as stability, health care, culture and environment. The list is for liveability, not necessarily what’s the best place for a tourist to visit. But it’s still instructive. Vienna was tops, with a score of 98.4 out of 100. Here’s a link to a short item I posted about Vienna recently. Read more
June 2023
Air Canada picked up three awards at this year’s Skytrax Airline Awards ceremony, while Air Transat and WestJet also picked up hardware. Air Canada was named world’s most family friendly airline and best airline in Canada. It also won top spot for best airline staff in Canada. Air Canada Rouge was named best low-cost airline in Canada, while Star Alliance, of which Air Canada is a member, was named world’s best airline alliance. Air Transat was named world’s best leisure airline, as well as (naturally) best leisure airline in North America. WestJet took home the hardware as best regional airline Read more
Porter Airlines is adding Winnipeg to its growing network, with flights between Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) and Winnipeg Richardson International Airport (YWG). Service between the provincial capitals begins on September 7, with two daily roundtrip flights. The new Winnipeg-Toronto Pearson route will operate with state-of-the-art, 132-seat Embraer E195-E2 aircraft. The service also connects to Porter’s Eastern Canada network out of Toronto-Pearson, including Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. Introductory roundtrip fares start at $177. Winnipegers will soon have access to Porter’s elevated economy experience, an option that doesn’t exist in Winnipeg today,” said Kevin Jackson, executive vice president and chief Read more
The pandemic may be over, but the pain continues for Canadian tourism and travel businesses. Forty-five per cent (45%) of Canada’s tourism businesses report that they are likely or somewhat likely to close within the next three years without government intervention into their mounting debt load, according to new research commissioned by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) and its provincial and territorial counterparts. The survey finds that 55 per cent of tourism sector businesses who share their views are somewhat not or not confident that their company will be able to make debt payments (principal and interest) that Read more
Get ready for higher airline prices in Canada. Airline and travel industry experts say WestJet’s decision to wind down Sunwing Airlines over the next two years will mean more inflation for consumers. “It’s going to mean higher prices and worse service,” Gabor Lukacs, president of Air Passenger Rights, a Halifax-based advocacy organization, told the Globe and Mail. While WestJet’s decision to wind down Sunwing Airlines operations will almost certainly lead to higher prices, McGill University aviation expert John Gradek told that the Globe that that’s just one of several issues that Ottawa needs to address in the airline industry. “The Read more
