With news this week of the EU opening travel to vaccinated arrivals, Canadian airlines urged Ottawa to take the same scientific approach to reopening travel here.
In a release entitled “Canadian carriers call on federal government to issue re-start plan as vaccination rollout aggressively continues”, the National Airlines Council of Canada stressed the urgency for the federal government to develop a clear re-start plan for aviation and the treatment of vaccinated passengers.
“Today’s announcement in Europe demonstrates that the EU continues to take a science-based approach to the development of its aviation and travel re-start policy. This is in-keeping with a growing number of countries that are announcing plans to remove or adjust travel restrictions for vaccinated passengers,” said Mike McNaney, President and CEO of the NACC, which represents Canada’s largest carriers (Air Canada, Air Transat, Jazz Aviation and WestJet).
“We need a similar and clear plan from the federal government outlining our path forward as vaccination rollout in Canada continues to aggressively move forward.”
The NACC highlights the marked difference between Europe and the U.S., where restart plans are moving forward, and Canada where ‘the government has provided only general guidance on what future policy changes may occur as vaccination rates expand.’
“Yesterday the National Airlines Council joined with over 60 other industry organizations in writing to the Prime Minister on the urgent need for Canada to move forward with a restart plan for the overall economy and for the travel sector.
“Countries that successfully plan will not only safely restart aviation and their overall economy, they will take jobs and investment from countries that do not. We must get moving now on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of Canadians in every region of the country whose livelihoods depend on travel and tourism” concluded McNaney.
