The flood of delayed and cancelled flights and lost luggage that has marred the resumption of air travel will continue to recede through the rest of the year as hiring and training programs gear up, says Amos Kazzaz, Air Canada’s chief financial officer. In a story in today’s Globe and Mail, Kazzaz said airport disruptions in Canada are improving and are unlikely to extend into the new year, pointing to the reduced numbers of delays, cancellations and baggage complaints in the second week of August. The website flightaware.com reports that only one per cent of Air Canada flights were cancelled Read more

American lawmakers and business officials are ratcheting up the pressure on the Trudeau government Ottawa to get rid of the controversial ArriveCan app. Nearly 1,500 emails have been sent to federal MPs and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino since the Canadian American Business Council’s new campaign, “Travel Like it’s 2019,” went live two weeks ago, The Canadian Press reports. The online campaign calls on Ottawa to scrap the troublesome ArriveCan app, a mandatory pre-screening tool for visitors to Canada, and to tackle the backlog plaguing the Canada-U.S. trusted-traveller system known as Nexus. Critics have blasted ArriveCan for causing airport congestion Read more

Canadian airlines are offering excellent deals for travel within Canada this fall. Flights to Europe are priced reasonably, but Caribbean flights appear to be expensive. A look today at aircanada.com reveals one way tickets from Toronto to Vancouver in mid-November (hardly the peak of travel season in Canada) for just $143 one-way. WestJet’s website shows flights from Calgary to Toronto in mid-November from $118. The deals aren’t quite as good for Europe, but they’re not bad. Air Canada shows flights from Toronto to London from Nov. 18-21 for $769 round-trip (about $385 one-way), and return flights between Montreal and Paris Read more

Canada Jetlines says it has received its air operating certificate (AOC) from Transport Canada, which will allow Canada’s newest airline to begin operations. Securing the AOC confirms that Canada Jetlines has all required professional capabilities and adheres to all safety regulations needed for aircraft operations as defined by Transport Canada. Canada Jetlines added it will be releasing new destinations and “updated scheduling shortly,” according to OpenJaw.com. “The entire team at Canada Jetlines is thrilled to obtain our AOC after meeting all necessary operation standards and passing all inspections,” said Eddy Doyle, CEO of Canada Jetlines. “We thank Transport Canada and Read more

The Points Guy (TPG) has released its sixth annual Best Airlines Report naming Delta Air Lines the number one airline in America for the fourth year in a row. TPG ranked airlines in the United States from best to worst according to criteria including customer satisfaction, cabin comfort, on-time records, lost luggage data, lounge quality and more. The rankings also reflect a strategic method that evaluates all aspects of a customer’s journey — from ticketing through baggage delivery and even redeeming rewards for future trips “As travel restrictions were lifted around the world and more people returned to traveling, airlines Read more

Expedia Group dug into its search data and identified a few key habits among Canadian travellers this summer Here’s a brief look. 1. Dusting off passports Canadian travellers are looking internationally for their summer trips this year with a 235% year on year increase in lodging searches in the months of August and September. In total, international travel searches account for a significant proportion of overall searches, replacing the previously preferred domestic trips during the same period last year. Search on international flights has also increased, up 70% for August and September compared to last year. This will be both Read more