Transat A.T. Inc., its employees and customers will be supporting the humanitarian efforts of SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine. The company is launching a fundraising campaign to assist SOS Children’s Villages, its long-time partner that has rapidly scaled up its response in Ukraine to meet the critical needs of approximately 500,000 vulnerable children and families affected by the conflict. The campaign calls on its employees, as well as those of the nearly 300 travel agencies that make up its distribution network, the largest in Canada with 2,000 travel counsellors. Air Transat passengers are also being invited to make a donation Read more
Ukraine
Air Canada today said it will be donating $10 for every booking made on aircanada.com to support Ukraine relief aid, with a total donation of up to $250,000. This $250,000 donation will complement the $170,000 contribution recently made by Air Canada’s employees and the Air Canada Foundation to the Canadian Red Cross and other charities, as well as the ongoing humanitarian aid destined to Poland and Ukraine transported through Air Canada Cargo. Additionally, Aeroplan Members may donate Aeroplan points at Ukrainian Relief Fund, with 100% of points to be redistributed to various charitable organizations supporting relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees Read more
G Adventures has cancelled all tours in Russia, and will no longer accept Russian nationals residing inside Russia on their trips. In a press release issued this morning, G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip said it’s heartbreaking to see the devastation in Ukraine. Below is the release in full. It’s as though we’ve learned nothing in the past 75 years – I would have hoped we had learned from our collective experience. The past two years we have been living through a global pandemic that has caused physical separation for millions around the world. For the first time in our Read more
International airline traffic could surpass pre-COVID levels by 2024, a new study says. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is projecting that overall traveller numbers will hit 4 billion in 2024, which would put it at 103% of 2019’s total. “The trajectory for the recovery in passenger numbers from COVID-19 was not changed by the omicron variant,” said IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh. “People want to travel. And when travel restrictions are lifted, they return to the skies. “There is still a long way to go to reach a normal state of affairs, but the forecast for the evolution in Read more
In response to the Russian leadership’s invasion of Ukraine, the government of Canada today said it’s closing Canada’s airspace to all Russian aircraft operators. Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, today announced that the Trudeau government is prohibiting the operation of Russian-owned, chartered or operated aircraft in Canadian airspace, including in the airspace above Canada’s territorial waters. “The Government of Canada is prohibiting the operation of Russian-owned, chartered or operated aircraft in Canadian airspace, including in the airspace above Canada’s territorial waters,” the Liberal government said in a press release issued at 11:19 a.m. Read more
