Air Transat and Porter Airlines are getting chummier by the day. Air Transat and Porter Airlines are extending their existing code-sharing agreement by creating a joint venture, transforming the current Canadian aviation competitive landscape. The alliance will help Toronto-based Porter and Montreal-based Transat better coordinate flight schedules and routes, which should benefit Canadian consumers and travellers. By combining both airlines’ complementary networks, this Alliance offers travellers significant benefits, officials said, including enhanced travel options across multiple regions. The Alliance expands services between North, Central and South America, Europe, North Africa, Mexico and the Caribbean, integrating Porter’s and Transat’s highly-complementary, Read more
travel news
WestJet’s chief executive says Canadians should find plenty of good travel deals this winter and on into summer. Speaking to Yahoo Finance Canada, CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said travel demand is resilient and that he expects a strong winter season. But he also said capacity is up and that there are more options for travellers. “There are markets that have seen strong pent-up demand that drove pricing, because there was an imbalance between supply and demand, the most prominent being on (transatlantic routes) over the summer,” von Hoensbroech said. Demand is now more in line with capacity, which has helped Read more
A violent car explosion at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, New York is causing major traffic headaches on one of the busiest travel days of the year. A car that was apparently carrying two people accelerated on the approach to the Rainbow Bridge, flew into the air and exploded earlier today. Multiple reports say both people were killed. Details were scarce but CNN reported the car had earlier been seen in the parking lot of a nearby U.S. casino. CNN at one point said Buffalo Niagara International Airport has closed to both international arriving and departing flights. But Buffalo Read more
Air Canada Adopts New Polices to Help PAX With Disabilities Passengers with disabilities will soon find significant improvements when they fly with the country’s largest airline. Air Canada today apologized for past problems suffered by passengers with disabilities and announced a series of measures to “reduce barriers and make travel simpler, more comfortable and consistently reliable for customers with disabilities.” The actions being taken will accelerate Air Canada’s Accessibility Plan 2023-26, a three-year strategy released in June, and are intended to reduce or eliminate major sources of dissatisfaction and trip disruption for customers with disabilities. Among the changes are priority boarding, Read more
Porter Airlines is expanding its Western Canada network with the addition of a non-stop route between Ottawa International Airport (YOW) and Edmonton International Airport (YEG). The new route begins October 4, with one daily roundtrip flight operated on the 132-seat Embraer E195-E2 aircraft. Introductory roundtrip fares start at $184. The Edmonton-Ottawa route offers a variety of connections to Eastern Canada via Ottawa. Porter also operates multiple non-stop daily flights between Edmonton and Toronto-Pearson. Here’s a story I wrote about Ottawa a few years ago. And one from Edmonton back in 2014. Route Departure Arrival Ottawa-Edmonton 7:15 p.m. 9:40 p.m. Edmonton-Ottawa Read more