It was clearly an important first face-to-face for many in the room as Air France, KLM and Delta recognized their 18 top producers in Canada at an elegant lunch last week at French resto Cluny in Toronto’s Distillery District. (Or, as Steven Larkin, Director of Sales, Canada for DL said - much to the group’s amusement - “Great to see we all still have nice clothes!”)
Accepting their Elite Awards, the group, which included retailers, consolidators and TMCs, were upbeat about the future of our business. As were the hosts.
“It’s so great to be in 3D!” was the way that Rob LeBel, DL’s Managing Director put it. “This has been a heartbreaking and painful time, but we are now focusing on the future together.”
DL is seeing unprecedented demand from both corporate and leisure sides, he added, with a recovery to 50 per cent of pre-covid capacity by summer. And, if those in the room weren’t already big fans of DL, he reminded them of the carrier’s reliability (“Second to none”), on-time record (“The best in the industry”) and emphasis on cleanliness and sustainability.
AF/KL 2022 capacity will even be 20 per cent above pre-covid times, Catherine Guillement-Dias, Vice-President and General Manager for Canada told Open Jaw. KL is serving YVR, YEG, YYC, YYZ and YUL, while AF is serving YVR, YYZ, YUL – and, new this year, YQB.
The guests included execs from such industry heavy hitters as Direct, Skyroute, Huntingdon and American Express. Amex’s Patrick Doyle told me that corporate travel is coming back, particularly in the small-to-midsize company sector, and he believes the industry has learned that nothing can beat meeting in person. “You cannot build a long-term relationship without meeting face-to-face.”
But since, as Doyle believes, “Even a simple trip is an event now,” clients will welcome AF’s “Ready to Fly” pre-travel health documentation checking service. Ready to Fly advises clients what they need to know and do, and once they’ve checked all the right boxes, their boarding pass will be flagged “Ready to Fly” to speed up security and boarding processes.
