Air Canada last week announced it was trimming roughly 15% of its flights as it deals with unprecedented demand and airport issues. Their website now has a list of the changes they’ve made, including flights between Toronto and several major Canadian cities, such as Ottawa, Calgary Charlottetown and Vancouver. The list also includes changes in flights to Miami, San Francisco and other U.S. cities. Here’s a copy of what I found posted on their site on Sunday night (July 3). This week, Air Canada announced changes to its summer schedule to support unprecedented and unforeseen strains on our organization. International flights Read more
Toronto Pearson
Canada’s airlines don’t appear to be following Air Canada’s lead on July and August flight cancellations. Spokepersons for both Air Transat and Porter Airlines told me today that they’re not looking to trim summer flights. WestJet put out a statement around 1 p.m. Eastern Time saying it has already trimmed back its schedule by roughly 20%. “We have been meticulously planning for summer operations and over the past few months have proactively reduced capacity to ensure we can deliver a stable operation,” WestJet officials said. “We have been very measured in our approach, and are currently scheduled to operate Read more
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), operator of Toronto Pearson, came together with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to offer passengers travel tips and advice as the busy summer travel season heats up. “We’re heading into what is traditionally our busiest time of the year and we want to arm passengers with tips to help them move through the travel experience as smoothly as possible,” said Deborah Flint, President and CEO of the GTAA. “We’ve been supporting our government agencies and airline partners to help manage difficult situations at the airport and we’re using Read more
The federal government says airport lineups are improving across the country. A statement from senior ministers in Ottawa says wait times at security lines continue to go down at Toronto Pearson International Airport, with about 91% of passengers now being screened within 15 minutes. Calgary International Airport also saw a slight overall improvement, with about 86% of passengers now screened within 15 minutes. About 84% of passengers were screened within 15 minutes at Vancouver International Airport, which is fewer than the previous week, but still a significant improvement since mid-May. About 85% of passengers were screened within 15 minutes at Read more
Canadian Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault says it could take weeks for the federal government to ease congestion at the nation’s airports. Tempers have been boiling over for some time as Canadians revert to 2019 travel patterns, only to be faced with long lineups at security and customs and a shortage of staff in the tourism and travel industry. Speaking to CTV’s Question Period, Boissonnault said he’s not happy with reports of Canadians waiting hours to get through travel checkpoints, particularly at Toronto Pearson International Airport. “I’m going to be very blunt. I’m not happy with the situation. I don’t want Read more
