The number of air passenger complaints to Canada’s transport regulator has more than tripled over the past year, soaring past 42,000 as of this month. The ballooning backlog means each case now needs more than a year and a half to handle, spurring advocates and politicians to question the efficacy of the process, even as hiring and funding ramp up.
Heathrow Airport says it has contingency plans to remain open and operational if security workers walk off the job on March 31 as planned. The strike action – scheduled to take place at Terminal Five over the busy Easter Break – will last 10 days through Easter Sunday on April 9.
ACTA has announced its networking events for 2023 including its ACTA Advocacy Fund Raising Golf Tournament and three ACTA Travel Industry Summits. The association says registration will open soon, but in the meantime, invite members to save the dates.
The Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) has confirmed Tracy Berkeley as Chief Executive Officer, creating history as the organization’s first female leader. Berkeley has been serving as the BTA’s Interim CEO since June 2022.
Trevello Travel Group says its new focus on cruising is making waves – with increased sales and prestigious awards.
Federal investigators in the US say an air traffic controller cleared an Air Canada Rouge plane to take off from Sarasota, Fla., while an American Airlines jet was making its final approach to the same runway last month, leading the American pilots to abandon their landing.
As uncollected garbage reeks in the streets of Paris amid a strike by sanitation workers, more labour strikes were planned for today across numerous sectors, from transportation to energy. The Civil Aviation authority asked to have 30 percent of flights canceled at Orly, Paris’ second airport, and 20 percent in Marseille.
Air travellers to Canada on flights originating from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong or Macao are no longer required to provide evidence of a COVID-19 test result before boarding.
Juan Carlos Garcia Granda is looking forward to the day when Canadians can enjoy a cup of coffee at a Tim Horton’s in Cuba. And while Cuba’s tourism minister wasn’t specifically rolling up to Canada last week to announce a win for coffee drinkers from this country (even if local coffee is considerably better), he was making a point that Cuba is increasingly solving its supply problems – accentuated during the pandemic – not least through foreign investment that is now actively encouraged.
In an exercise of fleet optimization, Seabourn has sold Seabourn Odyssey to a Japanese transport company, though the luxury cruise line says it will continue to operate all published voyages through Aug. 22, 2024, under a charter arrangement.
Visitors to a British castle in the West Midlands can go back in time to relive one of history’s great sporting spectacles as rival knights compete in the ultimate test of strength and skill at Kenilworth Castle’s Knights’ Tournament.
Accusations and lawsuits flew last week from Flair Airlines after four of its planes were seized due to over-due lease payments; Canada Jetlines and Qatar Airways considered a collaboration; Brazil blamed Canada for its re-imposition of visas; China finally re-opened its borders to tourists; and a popular Canadian tourism figure announced her retirement.
With Metro Vancouver set to host FIFA World Cup of soccer games in 2026, the city will see the first effects of an epic capacity crisis that will ultimately require the city to add 20,000 hotel rooms by 2050 to meet expected demand.
Stéphanie Bishop is retiring after four decades in the travel industry, the last 15 year as managing director of the Globus family of brands’ Toronto office. The popular Bishop is set to depart the company in May, leaving a new hand-selected leadership team to oversee Canada’s sales, marketing, and finances for Globus, Cosmos, and Avalon Waterways.
St Patrick’s Day in Ireland isn’t just a celebration of the patron saint, it’s also a demonstration of the pride of being Irish and a source of joy that helps to kick off the spring season. Around the world it might be all green beer, dressing up like leprechauns and donning ‘kiss me I’m Irish’ hats – but it’s not quite like that if you live in Ireland.
Carnival Cruise Line has 100 million reasons to celebrate after announcing that it has achieved a major milestone for the industry as the first cruise line to embark 100 million guests since its first sailing. Carnival President Christine Duffy visited Carnival Sunrise today as guests boarded the ship at PortMiami, where the cruise line was founded, to thank them for choosing fun since 1972.
Despite inflation Canadians are still itching to travel – but that doesn’t mean that travellers don’t want to get the best bang for their buck, or do their utmost to avoid potential delays that can disrupt or taint their trip.
Belfast’s first distillery in a century will soon open its doors in a historic converted prison, courtesy of the Belfast Distillery Co., which is on a “mission” to bring whiskey distilling back to the Northern Irish city.
Imagine managing floating cities full of different restaurants and having to plan shopping lists for what diners are going to be ordering a year from now. That’s the challenge facing cruise lines as they look ahead at the ever-changing trends in food and beverage on their ships.
Remember the you-got-chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter, you-got-peanut-butter-on-my-chocolate debate? And what’s that got to do with music videos and today’s musical celebration of St. Patrick’s Day?
Airborne Capital Inc the leasing company that seized four planes from Flair Airlines over the weekend said the carrier routinely missed payments over the past five months, essentially contradicting Flair CEO Stephen Jones who told reporters Monday the company is now 100 percent caught up on its leases after being “a few days in arrears” with about $1 million owing on the jetliners. Flair has subsequently filed a $50-million lawsuit against several plane leasing companies.
Canadians will once again need a tourist visa to visit Brazil, effective Oct. 1. The South American country is re-imposing the requirement (as well as for Brits, Americans, and Japanese travellers), because those countries require visas for Brazilians.
MSC Cruises is expanding its new entertainment offerings at sea with Guinness World Records, the recognized officials for incredible record-breaking titles worldwide. The new program will allow passengers to test their mettle at live shows and – if they’re lucky – get their name in the record books.
When the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Nashville Predators in an overtime shootout on Monday night, March 6, spirits were high inside Rogers Arena. Inside a private suite high above the ice, spirits were high before the game even began, when Travel Oregon hosted media and regional travel partners to a celebratory reception in a large private suite.
From cosmopolitan Birmingham to literary Stratford-upon-Avon, and epic castles like Kenilworth and Warwick to the industrial heritage of the Black Country Museum and the Ironbridge Gorge, England’s West Midlands region epitomizes the best of Britain.
First in Service Travel (F1S) wrapped it’s F1S SUMM1T in New York this week marking a number of firsts: first major conference since pandemic, first-ever two-day event, and first to invite suppliers.
Dima Fahed has been promoted to business development representative at Transat. She joins the Ontario, Atlantic and Western sales team, effective March 20. Fahed has held various roles at Transat over the past 15 years, including call centre, FIT/customize Greece, as well as group sales (weddings, leisure and incentive, and customized Europe).
The Transportation Safety Board is calling for better screening of heart-related conditions of Canadian pilots. The recommendation comes after at least eight fatal or serious plane crashes between the early 2000s and 2021 – all believed to be linked to heart attacks or cardiovascular diseases among pilots.
Disgruntled air travellers will soon have an extra ear to hear their complaints thanks to additional funding from the federal government for the Canadian Transport Agency. Ottawa says the $75.9 million funding over three years, starting in 2023-24, will help strengthen passenger rights by giving the Agency additional resources to reduce the backlog of existing complaints, including hiring 200 more staff.
Nearly 300,000 customers in the U.S. Northeast were without power Tuesday as a winter storm yet again caused chaos. A ground stop temporarily halted planes at New York’s LaGuardia Airport caused ongoing delays and as of Tuesday afternoon there were 845 flight cancellations within, into, or out of the US, with the majority of them in the Northeast.