News

We wouldn’t have known it while waiting over an hour for our bags to arrive at LAX on a recent visit – even with the 15-minute head start afforded by having to trek from gate to carousel – but at least they did arrive (and in one piece), which is an occurrence that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says is steadily becoming more common.

Air Transat has released its flight schedule 2024-25 winter season featuring, at peak, 300 non-stop flights per week from seven Canadian cities. In addition to Toronto, Ottawa, and London, it will also offer flights from Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, and Moncton, to more than two dozen destinations covering the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, and Europe. 

It wasn’t a normal Tuesday for staff at an Iqaluit airport gift shop when 260 passengers were unexpectedly stuck in the airport terminal for nearly 11 hours last week. The passengers made their unplanned arrival at the airport when their Air France flight from Paris, bound for Seattle, Wash., made an emergency landing in Iqaluit after a “heat smell” was detected inside the plane.

Canada’s Competition Bureau says it will begin a market study looking into the state of competition in the Canadian airline industry and how governments can make improvements. In a market study, the bureau examines barriers to competition, such as regulations or policies, within a specific sector.

The union representing WestJet Encore pilots says its members rejected the tentative deal reached last month, with just over half voting the agreement down. The union says despite improvements to compensation and scheduling, the pilots wanted to see more action from WestJet to address ongoing issues with pilot recruitment, retention, and morale. 

Air Vanuatu filed for bankruptcy protection late last week after the South Pacific state-owned carrier cancelled all international flights, stranding thousands of travellers. But despite the filing, the carrier is looking to resume operations as soon as possible.

With up to 176 daily flights to 27 destinations from the city’s two airports, Porter Airlines is promising its most substantial summer schedule to date from Toronto. And by August, the carrier says it will be the third-largest carrier flying from Toronto Pearson International Airport, with up to 74 daily flights to 16 destinations across Canada and the United States.

Qantas Airways agreed to pay AU$ 120 million Australian dollars (CA $104.2 million) in compensation and a fine for selling tickets on thousands of cancelled flights. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sued the Sydney-based airline in the Federal Court last year. The commission alleged that Qantas engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by advertising tickets for more than 8,000 flights from May 2021 through to July 2022 that had already been cancelled.

A British Airways transatlantic flight bound for London from Bermuda had to abort take-off due to a bomb threat to the aircraft.  The threat was emailed to LF Wade airport just as the flight with 197 people on board was due to leave Sunday night. Passengers disembarked and were accommodated in Bermuda overnight.

Travellers on Air Transat heading to Brussels from Montreal-Trudeau International Airport on May 5, were treated to a Wonka-themed flight celebrating the arrival of the movie on the airline’s in-flight entertainment system. The whimsical experience was the result of a first-time collaboration between Air Transat, Warner Bros. and Quebec-based Chocolats Favoris.