Today’s travel notebook looks at Hong Kong’s plan to reopen for tourism, an Air Canada event in Toronto, a Niagara Region Tourism help package, and an update on the status of Canadian discount airline Flair. HONG KONG READY AND WAITING One of the world’s most popular destinations has a tourism revival plan in place. The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) held its annual Tourism Update event online today May 6 and announced a revival plan that highlights Hong Kong’s vibrant developments and new experiences, aiming to generate a positive ambience and make the city top-of-mind destination for worldwide travellers when Read more
business news
Canadians have new ways to get around the country this summer, and more ways to get to other parts of the world. Air Transat has announced an enhanced domestic flight program to answer the popular demand for travel within Canada. Starting this weekend, the airline will relaunch its domestic flight program between Montreal, Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver. These flights will also provide many Canadians with access to international destinations via connections in Toronto and Montreal. Until the end of October, the airline will operate its flights to Western Canada with its new-generation Airbus A321neoLR aircraft. Route Starting Flight # Read more
Air Transat and WestJet have launched a new transatlantic codeshare. WestJet’s “WS” code is now activated for sale on select Air Transat operated flights to/from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and Croatia. Connections via Montreal and Toronto are now available for flight dates beginning May 17, 2022. On May 4, 2022, Air Transat’s “TS” code will be activated on select WestJet flights, and from that date Air Transat will also offer itineraries connecting select WestJet flights with appealing Air Transat European destinations. “We are very excited to launch this codeshare agreement with WestJet,” said Michèle Barre, Vice President, Network, Revenue Read more
Air Canada ticket sales for March of this year nearly reached pre-pandemic levels, one of the surest signs yet that the travel rebound is real. Canada’s largest airline released its first quarter results today. One of the key indicators is that ticket sales for March of 2022 were more than 90% of sales in March, 2019. Air Canada officials called that “a leading indicator to much stronger 2022 second and third quarter results.” For the quarter, Air Canada had operating revenues of $2.573 billion, more than triple that of the same quarter last year. The airline reported a first quarter Read more
Sunwing Airlines Inc. says the network-wide system outage that has grounded travellers and delayed flights to and from sun destinations is still not resolved. The crisis is now stretching into its fifth day. Canadian Press and the Toronto Star report that Sunwing continues to advise customers travelling over the next few days to check their flight status before heading to the airport. Sunwing has apologized for the ongoing delays, which it says are the result of a data security breach affecting its third-party provider of passenger handling systems. The Toronto-based airline/travel company says it has been forced to write out Read more
