Aviation

Aviation companies are making the pitch to Ottawa that stricter rules designed to boost customer compensation and improve service could put passenger safety at risk – an argument consumer advocates reject. The push, made in regulatory submissions and meetings on Parliament Hill, comes on the heels of sweeping reforms to the passenger rights charter announced in April and currently being hashed out by Canada’s transport regulator before going into effect next year.

Delta Air Lines says is rethinking changes it already announced to its loyalty program, with the airline’s CEO saying it went too far trying to address a surge in the ranks of elite frequent flyers. Delta said two weeks ago that starting in early 2025 it would base elite status purely on spending, instead of also counting flights, and limit airport club access for holders of Delta credit cards.

With planning and integration activities “well underway,” the WestJet Group says its goal is to complete the integration of Sunwing Airlines into its mainline business by October, 2024. The move would see all of the airlines’ 727 aircraft moved into the same AOC (air operator certificate) as well as a seamless transition of the company’s 2,000 employees.

Saudia, formerly known as Saudi Arabian Airlines, will fly three times a week between Jeddah and Toronto’s Pearson International Airport starting Dec. 2. Transport Canada says it’s the first time there have been direct routes between the two countries since 2018, when Saudi Arabia suspended flights as it protested the Canada’s loud condemnation of its human-rights record.

Air Canada pilots are demonstrating at Toronto’s Pearson airport today, calling for better wages and working conditions as talks with the country’s biggest carrier continue. The Air Line Pilots Association kick-started the bargaining process in June, one day after fellow union members at WestJet ratified a new collective agreement.

One airline plans to find out if solitude-seeking travellers will pay a hefty extra charge to avoid sitting near babies and little kids. Corendon Airlines says that it will sell an adults-only zone – no one under 16 – on flights between Amsterdam and Curacao starting in November.

Nav Canada is proposing to reduce customer service charges by close to 6 percent, which would claw back some of an almost 30 percent hike implemented on Sept. 1, 2020, during the pandemic when global air traffic was significantly reduced.

Eight people have been hospitalized after a JetBlue flight experienced severe turbulence as it landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Monday. JetBlue flight 1256 was flying into Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from Guayaquil, Ecuador when it suddenly experienced turbulence, the company said in a statement.

Air Canada says it has placed a firm order for 18 Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft that will be used to replace older, less efficient wide-body aircraft in its fleet. The agreement also includes options for an additional 12 Boeing 787-10 aircraft.

The union representing 11,000 Canadian pilots says a newly streamlined immigration program that looks to fill job gaps in transport fails to cut to the core of a dire labour shortage in aviation. Tim Perry, president of the Air Line Pilots Association’s Canadian chapter, says recent changes to the country’s Express Entry system may offer a temporary fix but still amount to what he calls a “Band-Aid solution” to the lack of flight crews.

While Canadians are already buying into Arajet’s message of convenient connections to the Caribbean and South and Central America through its Santo Domingo hub, the low-fare airline’s founder and CEO believes sunseekers in this country will also find the soon-to-launch Toronto and Montreal service ideal for transit to the Dominican Republic directly, whether as final destination or for two-island holidays in the Caribbean.

Edmonton International Airport (YEG) will be completing infrastructure upgrades to the Departures Roadway on Level Two starting today (Sept. 26), which will close the elevated roadway and require relocation of the passenger pick-up and drop-off areas. During the construction period, the Departures Roadway adjacent to the terminal will be temporarily closed to all traffic.

Air Transat is looking ahead to its next generation of pilots with the launch of a new cadet training program that will enable the airline to build a pipeline of qualified pilots, with applications being accepted now for training beginning in February 2024.

The global push to decarbonize the aviation sector by 2050 will lead to a major increase in ticket prices unless governments step in to offer support, WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech warned this week. Von Hoensbroech made the comments Tuesday at the 24th World Petroleum Congress, a major international oil-and-gas conference being held in Calgary this week.

The Walt Disney Co. has “new stories to tell” its fans and is planning to invest approximately $60 billion into its theme parks and cruise lines over the next decade to do so. The company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that its planned investment – “accelerated and expanded” – is nearly double what it spent in the prior 10-year period.

Porter Airlines inaugurated service in Victoria, BC, Wednesday with daily flights between Toronto Pearson Airport representing another link in the growing network of routes the airline has introduced this year with its new Embraer E195-E2 aircraft.

Pilots and aircraft assembly workers are among the first professionals to be invited by the Canadian government to take advantage of a new Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada policy designed to address labour shortages in the country. The move comes as That smaller Canadian airlines plan to add more than 50 planes to their fleets in the next two years, while Air Canada and WestJet are also bulking up.

Starting Sept. 25, a newly expanded codeshare agreement with Air France will enable WestJet passengers to access 31 additional cities across 11 European countries via Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). Previously, WestJet and Air France’s code share agreement included 22 destinations through CDG, all of which will be maintained as the number of onward destinations in Europe now grows to 53.

The United States Federal Aviation Administration has returned Mexico’s aviation safety rating to the highest level two years after downgrading it. The change will allow Mexican airlines to add new routes to the US, and US airlines will once again be able to sell tickets on Mexican airline-operated flights.

The CEO of WestJet says the company is non-partisan and will revisit its policy after the airline faced backlash for allowing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to speak on the PA system on a recent flight. The union representing WestJet cabin crew demanded an apology from the airline over the incident. However, speaking in Vancouver Thursday,  Poilievre says he was asked multiple times by the cabin crew to speak and the Union should be the one apologizing.

SWISS is set to expand its route network in its 2024 summer schedules, adding two new long-haul destinations – including Toronto – to be served from Zurich. Its intercontinental network will also see the addition of Washington, DC, while its European network will feature new services to Košice in Slovakia and Cluj-Napoca in Romania.

Canadian pilots are demanding better wages and benefits from their employers, raising financial pressure on airlines that are just starting to recover from the pandemic and creating “really tricky” conditions to keep them flying south for more lucrative jobs.

Air Canada says it has repaid about $589 million in debt that it used to buy aircraft. The company says it repaid a $462-million loan from Canada’s Export Development Corp. that it used to pay for the purchase of 14 Airbus A220-300 aircraft.

A post-pandemic surge in car traffic at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport this summer has led to frustration, confusion, and desperation. The city’s public transit authority has scrambled to find detours for the airport shuttle, and the company that manages the site has opened more free parking and added traffic-control staff. So far, it appears nothing has worked to ease the bottlenecks.

Passengers aren’t the only ones feeling cramped these days. Though Canadian flights have long been dominated by Air Canada and WestJet, the emergence of newer carriers including Flair Airlines and Lynx Air has shaken up the sector, injecting fresh competition to a once-complacent market.

Canada’s public health agency says it’s investigating a recent incident involving a vomit-smeared airplane seat. On Tuesday, Air Canada said it apologized to two passengers who were escorted off the plane by security after protesting that their seats were soiled – and still damp – ahead of an Aug. 26 flight from Las Vegas to Montreal.

The Mexican government ordered Mexico City’s old international airport (MEX) to cut flights by 17% sparking warnings by airlines of possible mass flight cancellations. The new rules scheduled to take effect by Oct. 29 would require the terminal to reduce the number of flights per hour at the airport from 52 to 43.

A new, year-round route between Montreal and Madrid will launch next May as part of Air Canada’s expanded international summer 2024 flying schedule. The airline plans to operate 100 percent of its peak summer 2019 trans-Atlantic capacity next year, taking full advantage of the robust recovery in its largest international market.