I remember my first visit to Halifax. I was in the middle of a block and wanted to cross the street. I was lazy, so rather than strolling to the nearest crosswalk I decided to jaywalk. The car closest to me stopped smoothly and gave me lots of space to dash across the road. I was baffled. You see, I live in Toronto. When you jaywalk in Toronto, you take your life into your hands. Cars honk at you. People roll down windows and make rude gestures. Fist fights erupt, police are called, and criminal charges ensue. In Halifax, they Read more
Halifax
Airline staffing issues and weather problems continue to bedevil would-be travellers in Canada and the U.S. New York City and Boston have been hardest hit today. As of 3:45 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, January 7, the website flightaware.com reports 328 cancellations for Canadian airlines for the day. It also said nearly one-half of all flights for snowy Halifax, Nova Scotia have been cancelled today. According to the site, Air Canada Jazz alone has cancelled 150 flights, which represents 30% of their total for the day. WestJet Encore has cancelled 59 flights, or 31%, the site said. For Air Canada, Read more
Swoop, Canada’s leading ultra-low fare airline, has reaffirmed its commitment to the Edmonton region with the announcement of new service to one U.S. and eight domestic destinations from its Western Canadian base. The airline’s significant new investments were celebrated this morning alongside the unveiling of Swoop’s newest aircraft, which will fly with the name #Edmonton. The airline’s growth will see Swoop’s flight capacity in Alberta’s capital increase 76% compared to pre-pandemic levels, supporting the creation of 140 additional direct and spin-off jobs and an anticipated $120M of economic output activity in 2022. “This is a major milestone for Swoop as Read more
Winter could still throw a COVID-19 curveball as we move indoors, but there are some positive signs in the tourism and travel industry. Executives at IHG Hotels & Resorts say they’re encouraged by the business environment and the third quarter performance of their hotels, especially in the U.S. The website Hotel News Now quotes Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson, chief financial officer and head of group strategy, as saying occupancy and average daily rate in some markets this summer were back to 2019 levels. According to the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American travellers, the drop in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths Read more
Major cuts by Air Canada. New tests for the trouble Boeing 737 MAX. Plus, Delta joins with the Mayo Clinic, a spiffy new hotel project for Halifax and an update on Australia and tourism. My Future of Travel blog for June 30. Air Canada Closing Operations at 8 Canadian Airports, Slashing 30 Domestic Routes It’s a perfectly understandable move given the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Canada. But it’s a devastating loss for many Canadian communities. And the company says there could be more changes coming soon. Air Canada said today that it is indefinitely suspending service on 30 Read more
