The airline Air Canada announced Wednesday that it will suspend some flights to sun destinations from January 24 to April 30, 2022 due to the pandemic. On Thursday, Air Transat followed suit by canceling nearly 30% of its winter flights.
On its website, the carrier indicated that the suspended destinations will be Antigua, Aruba, Samaná, Curaçao, Exuma, Grenada, Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, Bermuda, Grand Cayman, Havana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint-Martin / Sint Maarten and Saint-Kitts-et-Nevis.
Air Canada explained that to prevent Canadians from being stranded abroad, the carrier plans to “operate a number of one-way commercial flights from affected destinations to bring customers from suspended destinations back to Canada.”
Air Canada is committed to providing full reimbursement to travelers affected by the temporary suspension of these flights.
Air Transat too
Same story with Transat, which canceled nearly 30% of its winter flights. The tour operator said Thursday that the impact of the Omicron variant and the Dec. 15 recommendation by the federal government to avoid non-essential travel sparked a wave of trip cancellations.
A reduced flight schedule is now in place until February 25, but Transat said further changes may be needed.
The Montreal-based company, which did not specify which flights were affected, said travelers would be fully reimbursed. When possible, they will be offered date changes for their reservation.
WestJet Airlines has already cut its flight schedule by 15% until the end of January, citing the high proportion of its flight crews who have had to take time off work because they were infected with COVID-19.
The airline industry, which has started to recover after a devastating first year of a pandemic, is once again struggling with the resurgence of COVID-19 cases. US carriers have also canceled thousands of flights in recent weeks.
With Sophie Ouimet, Press