Sunwing on Thursday issued an apology to passengers affected by operational difficulties due to winter storms over the holiday season, while stating that “the majority of our customers were able to enjoy their vacation with little disruption.”
In a joint statement, Sunwing Travel Group CEO Stephen Hunter and Sunwing Airlines President Len Corrado said they were “deeply sorry to have disappointed our customers.”
“We regret that we have not achieved the level of service that Sunwing customers have come to expect,” executives said.
“We have experienced egregious failures in implementing our response to the delays caused by the severe weather conditions, the consequent disruption of which has limited our ability to reposition aircraft and crews at other airports so that we can mitigate the delays. flights. »
Hundreds of passengers have been affected by Sunwing delays, which began to pile up when the company began canceling flights Dec. 22 due to weather conditions.
Some customers have been stuck for days in tropical destinations amid a wave of cancellations, winter storms and an outage of the airline’s digital communications service.
The company says it has completed all recovery flights related to holiday disruptions and said it has an action plan in place to resolve technical issues, including flight alert notifications and communication flow with carriers. clients.
The airline also continues to “actively work to return baggage to owners as quickly as possible.”
After the airline apologized, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a Twitter post that he spoke with the company on Thursday.
“What happened is totally unacceptable,” he wrote.
“Canadians expect airlines to keep them informed and manage disruptions. I will continue to work with Sunwing to make sure this doesn’t happen again. »
Meanwhile, Sunwing suggested the severe disruption to its holiday flight schedule had been similar to what several major carriers faced during their first post-pandemic peak season in the spring and summer. summer.
“We have planned our largest flight schedule since the pre-pandemic and have invested significantly to mitigate potential risks associated with meeting the high travel demand during the peak winter period,” explained MM. Hunter and Corrado in their press release.
“We developed a workable action plan which, due to a confluence of factors, unfortunately could not be put in place. »
The airline announced Dec. 29 that it was immediately canceling operations through Feb. 3 at Saskatchewan’s two largest airports.
“While the winter season is in full swing, we have also reduced our capacity during the month of January to bring back our highest standards of operation while eliminating disruption for our customers,” the statement continued.
The airline added that it actively accepts all eligible compensation claims and will fully comply with the Canadian Air Passenger Protection Regulations.