Aviation

The WestJet Group has announced its winter schedule, operating 230 direct routes from Canada to the southern US, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America this winter, while also extending key domestic and international routes from summer to year-round service.

It’s estimated there are more than 41,000 airports in the world. And while it would be impossible to visit them all, British-based company Artemis Aerospace has channelled its eye-in-the-sky ethos to come up with a shortlist of six must-see runways that provide rare and beautiful vistas, guaranteeing a great start, or end, to a visitor’s journey.

Toronto’s Pearson airport says a staffing boost and other initiatives have ‘tangibly improved’ service, and issues that sparked chaos at Canada’s largest airport last summer have been addressed. And no longer is the Toronto hub rated last globally in on-time performance.

Air Canada has added a host of new features for passengers, from check-in to inflight. The upgrades include expanded in-flight food and beverage offerings, more family-friendly options in the airline’s in-flight entertainment library, as well as additional advances to the Air Canada App.

An emergency evacuation slide fell from an airliner and landed in the backyard of a home near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, causing no injuries but damaging a roof, officials and witnesses said.

United Airlines and the union representing its pilots say they reached agreement on a contract that will raise pilot pay by up to 40 percent over four years. The union valued the agreement at about $10 billion. It followed more than four years of tumultuous bargaining that included picketing and talk of a strike vote.

An American woman was fined after attempting to bribe a police officer at the Munich airport’s passport control over the weekend, according to German federal police. The 70-year-old was travelling from Athens to Washington with a stopover in Munich when she attempted to go through passport control without presenting a valid ID, police said.

Mexico’s armed forces are taking control of the capital’s main airport, and the government plans to give the military control of nearly a dozen more across the country as the president takes aim at corruption and mismanagement.

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has launched consultations on proposed amendments to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR) and you can help shape the outcome.

Qatar Airways reported $1.2 billion in profits over the past year, buoyed by its role in ferrying fans to the soccer World Cup. The long-haul airline said it transported 1.4 million passengers to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. It also expanded its network to more than 160 destinations.

Appeals court judges in Amsterdam have ruled that the Dutch government can order Schiphol Airport, one of Europe’s busiest aviation hubs, to reduce the number of flights from 500,000 per year to 460,000.

Transat AT Inc. says it has sold a piece of land in Mexico to resort company Finest Resorts for US$38 million. The company says the sale is part of its plan to focus on its airline business as it tries to return to profitability after more than two years of losses.

Lynx Air is expanding service to its US network this fall, with the addition of routes from Toronto Pearson International (YYZ) to Los Angeles International (LAX) and Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX), as well as from Montreal Pierre Trudeau International (YUL) to Las Vegas Harry Reid International (LAS).

JetBlue says it will end a partnership with American Airlines in the Northeast US after losing a court fight over the deal and will instead focus on salvaging its proposed purchase of Spirit Airlines.The US Justice Department sued to block both the JetBlue-American deal and JetBlue’s agreement to buy Spirit for $3.8 billion on grounds that they would hurt competition.

Emirates made a landmark touchdown in Montréal this week, marking the start of scheduled daily non-stop aboard Boeing 777 services to its second gateway in Canada. Emirates now serves Canada with 14 flights per week.

PAL Airlines and Air Canada completed the inaugural PAL Airlines operation of an Air Canada Express flight between St. John’s and Halifax. The inaugural section on July 1 was the first flight operated under a newly completed commercial agreement achieved between the two carriers to fortify regional service in eastern Canada.

United Airlines says when flights are delayed or cancelled it will use its app to send customers options for rebooking and, in some cases, vouchers for meals and hotel rooms. The airline began testing the service on its app late last year and says it found that it reduced the number of people waiting in airports lines to speak to airline agents.

Nearly 2,000 Air Canada flights – roughly half of all flights – were delayed or cancelled over the Canada Day long weekend. The figures from aviation tracker FlightAware included Rouge and regional partner Jazz Aviation for the period from Saturday through Monday.

WestJet has announced the addition of the B in ABC islands of the Dutch Caribbean ¬– Bonaire – to its roster of Caribbean destinations with non-stop seasonal weekly departures from Toronto starting Dec. 12.

As United Airlines cancelled thousands of July 4th weekend flights, leaving passengers stranded in airports around the country for days, airline CEO Scott Kirby, with an inexplicable lack of judgement and no thought as to the optics or consequences, reportedly chartered a private jet from Teterboro, New Jersey, to Denver. He did this on Wednesday, the same day United cancelled 750 flights — one-quarter of the day’s schedule – not including flights on United Express. Kirby apologized Friday, saying “It was insensitive to our customers waiting to get home.” No kidding.

U.S. customs pre-clearance is coming to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ), but travellers bound for destinations south of the border will have to wait until 2025 to take advantage of the expedited serviced at the downtown (island) airport.

Canada Jetlines says it is on schedule to add another aircraft that will allow it to fly to Europe next summer, but not before it operates “numerous charters” to Greenland this summer.

Air France has inaugurated its new non-stop flight between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Ottawa, making the carrier the only company to operate direct flights between the Canadian capital and Europe.

Porter Airlines continues to expand its presence in Western Canada with the addition of Victoria to its network with one daily roundtrip flight as of September 20. Victoria is the second city in British Columbia that Porter will serve with its new 132-seat Embraer E195-E2 aircraft, which the airline touts as having the lowest fuel consumption per seat and per trip among its class.

As if tech issues, labour shortages and weather aren’t enough, flights south of the border could be disrupted starting next week because some planes lack updated equipment to prevent interference from transmissions by wireless companies.

Low-cost Icelandic airline PLAY launched its inaugural flight from Canada June 22, with the carrier aiming to offer another competitive alternative for Canadians to fly to Europe via its Reykjavik hub.