Air Canada and other airlines suspend flights to some sun destinations
Freezing cold temperatures may have some dreaming of a sunny escape, but those planning to fly out on Air Canada, Air Transat or WestJet may be out of luck.
Air Canada Vacations announced this week that it is suspending some flights to Sun destinations from Jan. 24 until April 30, 2022, blaming the "current pandemic context."
If you think this sounds like a déjà vu, you would be right — last year at this time the Canadian government announced it was suspending flights to typical sun destinations.
Fast-forward a year and Canadians still can't get a break — unless you are an influencer of some sort or Drake.
With a travel advisory still in place, Air Canada has suspended flights to 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 and Nevis.
Air Transat says customers cancellations have forced it to slash 30% of their winter flights thru Feb. 25. Air Canada Vacations & WestJet also have had to cut back as Omicron continues to batter the travel biz. https://t.co/N6v85rGS9a #Transat #airlines #travel #Omicron #Canada
— Canada's Travel Guy (@JimByersTravel) January 6, 2022
The airline added that it plans to operate a number of one-way commercial flights from affected destinations in order to return customers at the suspended destinations to Canada to ensure no one is stranded abroad.
Any travellers affected by the temporary suspension will be issued a full refund.
"Our team will be contacting any impacted customers and processing refunds in order of departure date," the advisory reads.
Air Canada isn't alone in suspending flights.
Air Transat cancelled almost 30 per cent of its flights up until Feb. 25, and more changes could be made, according to the Globe and Mail.
"The lingering effects of the Omicron variant and the restrictive measures put in place by the federal government on December 15th have had an impact on our customers' reservations and cancellation requests," Pierre Tessier, a spokesman for Transat told the Globe.
WestJet Airlines also said it was forced to cut 15 per cent of its flights through the end of January due to a staff shortage.
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