DOES SWOOP HAVE A FUTURE?: WestJet slowly resumes operations

WestJet says it will take time to resume full operations after more than 200 flights were cancelled earlier this week in anticipation of a pilots’ strike. The carrier and the Air Line Pilots Association announced a tentative deal to avoid the job action on Friday after eight months of negotiations. However, weekend reports say the agreement could mean the end of its budget subsidiary Swoop.

TRANSAT, PORTER BOOST CODESHARE

As part of the second phase of the codeshare agreement between Air Transat and Porter Airlines, the carriers have added more connections, enabling travellers to take advantage of additional routes linking Canada to destinations in the South, the US and Europe.

THE LEADING EDGE

More than 1,700 delegates attended Travel Leaders Network’s annual Edge conference in Nashville earlier this month, fresh with the knowledge that Travel Leaders Group had won the legal right to use the Travel Leaders trademark in Canada, capping a six-year legal battle.

ROUND-UP: May 15-19, 2023

A week of drama ended with an 11th-hour deal between WestJet and its pilots averting a strike before the long weekend. In other news last week, the WTTC reported that Canada’s travel and tourism sector is within site of 2019 numbers; ACTA’s 2023 award nominations opened; and a fraudulent Ontario travel agent received 30 days in jail resulting from TICO charges.

WESTJET, PILOTS AVERT STRIKE

WestJet and its pilots union say they have reached a last-minute deal, averting a strike ahead of the May long weekend. A statement from the Air Line Pilots Association says union leaders voted to approve an agreement-in-principle, with a membership vote to begin in the coming days.

THE LATEST TWIST: Disney calls for dismissal of Florida lawsuit

Disney has asked a state judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a governing board appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to oversee Disney World, claiming the company has been the victim of the “weaponizing” powers of government aimed at punishing it for opposing a law dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics.

CANADA’S BEST RESTAURANTS AND BARS REVEALED

Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants List 2023 paints a vibrant portrait of the Canadian culinary scene. The list offers Canadians a guide to the country’s top dining destinations as selected by a team of 135 culinary tastemakers across the country, with judges including Lauren Mozer, Franco Stalteri, Michael Smith, Mijune Pak, Élise Tastet, and Alexandra Gill.

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR 2023 ACTA AWARDS

ACTA is now receiving nominations for the annual ACTA Awards – including a new Lifetime Achievement Award – for 2023. The honours will be bestowed at the annual ACTA 2023 Eastern Canada Travel Industry Summit in September in Toronto.

CALIFORNIA REVELS IN ‘EPIC’ WHITEWATER SEASON

After years of drought and as a historic snowpack starts to melt, the spring runoff is fuelling conditions for some of the best whitewater in years on California’s American River and its forks, which course through the Sierra Nevada northeast of Sacramento.

SPEEDY CRUISE INTERNET REACHES FAR CORNERS OF THE WORLD

Staying connected on expeditions to remote locales or even on a leisurely sail in the Caribbean is becoming easier this year as cruise lines swap their old satellite equipment for the speedier Starlink system.

LISTENING IN: Chris Isaak did a good, good thing

Visit California was in town (well, Niagara on the Lake) recently, which, naturally leads to wine talk. And California wine makes me think of Chris Isaak. Why? Because a few years ago I was at the Robert Mondavi winery in the Napa Valley for dinner (spectacular, I might add), and was greeted by a roadside marquee: “Chris Isaak performing.”

CANADIAN KILLED IN OAXACA

A Canadian man was shot to death in Mexico’s Pacific coast beach town of Puerto Escondido, prosecutors said Tuesday. He was the second foreign tourist killed in the southern state of Oaxaca in less than a week.

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’: All that glitters in the Golden State

It didn’t take The Mamas and the Papas to start Canadians dreaming about California. Indeed, with visitation numbers from this country expected to reach pre-pandemic levels this year – and surpass them in 2024 – many Canadians are ready to turn dreams to reality again and return to the Golden State.

AIR CANADA READY TO FLYDUBAI

Air Canada and flydubai have announced a new partnership to give customers flying between Canada, the Middle East, East Africa, Indian Subcontinent and Southern Asia more travel options. The carriers will codeshare on nine markets and interline on more than 60 others beyond Dubai

‘APOCALYPTIC FLOODS’ DEVASTATE ITALY, BALKANS

Exceptional rains this week in a drought-struck region of northern Italy have swelled rivers over their banks, killing at least eight people, forcing the evacuation of thousands, and forcing Formula One to cancel this weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix to not overtax emergency crews that are already stretched thin.

WESTJET IMPASSE THREATENS SHUTDOWN

The travel plans of WestJet customers are up in the air after its pilots’ union issued a 72-hour strike notice Monday night. The gambit by the Air Line Pilots Association started a countdown to a flight crew walkout at 3 a.m. on Friday morning, just ahead of the busy May long weekend.

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Mastercard reveals 2023 trends

The Mastercard Economics Institute has released its fourth annual travel report, Travel Industry Trends 2023, offering insights across markets about the global state of travel punctuated by shifting economic landscapes, persistent consumer demands, and a reopening mainland China.

CANADIANS CONTINUE ORLANDO LOVE AFFAIR

More than 74 million visitors came to the Orlando in 2022, making the destination the most visited in the US, according to Visit Florida. Among them were over 860,000 Canadians, representing the Florida city’s top international market.

BIKE FEST SHOWS OFF BEST OF MONTREAL

If the 21-storey Leonard Cohen mural that commands Montreal’s skyline could talk, it might tell you what this city’s crackling cultural life was like when the pandemic hit and everyone hunkered down. To borrow from his lyrics, it was a cold and a broken hallelujah. The party’s back on.

AMERICAN AIRLINES DOES DALLAS

American Airlines has signed a new lease at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport – the world’s second busiest airport – that will include US$4.8 billion to build a new terminal and renovate one of the five current terminals, airline and airport officials said Tuesday.

CUNARD SETS COURSE IN 2025

Cunard has announced its Winter 2025 program, offering over 133 voyages, with stops at 159 unique destinations around the globe. The luxury cruise line also revealed that its highly anticipated Queen Anne will be the only one of vessels to offer a full World Voyage in 2025.

THE ROAD TO RABAT: Four Seasons headed for Moroccan capital

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts its preparing to open a new luxury property in the Moroccan capital of Rabat, the luxury chain’s fourth hotel in the country. Expected to open later this year, Four Seasons Hotel Rabat at Kasr Al Bahr will be set within a 19th-century palace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, 90 minutes from Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport.

CANADIAN TRAVEL & TOURISM BOUNCES BACK

A new report by the World Travel and Tourism Council finds that Canada’s travel and tourism sector is poised for major recovery this year and is within sight of its previous peak in 2019. If achieved, the activity would furnish some 90,000 more jobs to reach 1.64 million this year, recovering nearly all the travel and tourism positions scrapped during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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