Two Canadian operators resume operations 30JUL, marking a milestone in the recovery of the travel industry from pandemic shut downs.
TRANSAT
Three Transat flights are scheduled today: Montreal-Punta Cana, Punta Cana-Montreal and Montreal-Vancouver. These flights kick off the airline's summer program, which will include, at the height of the season, 24 routes to 16 destinations in Canada, the United States, the South and Europe.
Even without the pandemic putting the entire travel industry in crisis, including a voluntary suspension of flights to sun destinations this winter at the request of the federal government in an effort to stave off the spread of the virus, this year has been a particularly momentous one for Transat.
At the end of MAY, long-time CEO Jean-Marc Eustache retired, with Annick Guerard taking over as President and CEO of the company that in APR, learned the EC would not approve its takeover by Air Canada. That left Transat to look for other financing to continue business and relaunch operations. The company, as reported by Open Jaw, secured a $700 million pandemic support loan from Ottawa.
In JUN, the operator was able to release a winter flight program for 2021/22. Starting 01NOV, Air Transat will offer flights to destinations throughout the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, the United States and Europe.
In addition, the operator will also offer packages to South America, featuring 290 properties and four collections: Luxury, Out of Office, Family and Solo.
Air Transat will also operate domestic flights between Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and Vancouver.
As for Europe, Air Transat will gradually resume direct flights from Montreal to France, Portugal, Spain and Italy. There will also be direct flights from Toronto to the United Kingdom, Portugal, the Netherlands, Ireland and Italy, and from Quebec City to France.
The company notes that, should the situation change and force the company to alter its flight schedule, clients affected by cancellations would be eligible for a refund.
When it announced quarterly results in JUN, Transat said it did not expect operations to reach pre-pandemic levels until 2023.
More information can be found on Transat’s web site.
SUNWING
The first Sunwing Airlines flights to the sun since January took off today from TYYZ and YUL. The inaugural flights mark Sunwing’s partial return to service amid Canada’s soaring vaccination rates, easing border measures and increasing demand for travel.
The operator's partial return to operations was announced last month.
Initial service is being offered from Toronto to Cancun, Punta Cana and Montego Bay, and from Montreal to Cancun and Punta Cana. Sunwing will be operating additional gateways and destinations for the fall and winter season, with departures from numerous other Canadian cities beginning in October 2021.
Last month, when it announced its partial service to select sun destinations from YYZ and YUL beginning 30JUL, Sunwing also cancelled its entire summer domestic flight program for all flights within Canada, while at the same time noting that additional flights and routes would be added to reflect consumer demand, and that more gateways and destinations will be revealed for the fall/winter flight season in due course.
Sunwing’s resumption of service today comes just over a month after it reached a new agreement with the Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation (CEEFC) to provide financing for customer refunds, as opposed to its previous cancellation policy which offered future travel credits.
Requests for refunds must be submitted through the operator's online COVID-19 refund request form by 27AUG 2021. Customers who booked through a travel agent or a third party must contact their agent or third party to request a refund.
In announcing the new financial support from Ottawa and consumer refund program, Sunwing also added that travel agent commissions for cancelled and refunded bookings will not be recalled.
More information can be found on Sunwing’s web site.
