Air Canada cancels rest of winter flights to Caribbean
(CNS): Air Canada is suspending more than a dozen routes to the Caribbean, including to the Cayman Islands, following new regulations in response to the surge in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Canada. According to a travel advisory from the airline, the “sun destination” flights will stop from 24 January until 30 April.
To prevent Canadians being stranded abroad, the airline will operate a number of one-way commercial flights from affected destinations to return customers. Those yet to travel will be issued a full refund. The Cayman Islands tourism ministry said it was looking at ways to allow Canadians to still visit Cayman following the unexpected change in Air Canada’s winter service.
Air Canada made the decision based on the Canadian government’s advisory against all non-essential travel.
Tourism Minster Kenneth Bryan said the Cayman Islands Government will work closely with all partners to ensure a safe experience for all people travelling here. He said they will remain in contact with international airlines in scheduling flights and keeping abreast of travel entry requirements.
So far, WestJet’s weekly non-stop Boeing 737-800 service from Toronto to Grand Cayman has not cancelled.
Air Canada resumed its twice weekly flights via its subsidiary, Air Canada Rouge, to ORIA last month, but these have now once again been paused due to the government advisories and decline in bookings to the region.
Other destinations where flights have been cancelled include Antigua, Aruba, Curaçao, the Bahamas, Grenada, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Cuba, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Martin and Saint Kitts, and Nevis.
Speaking to the travel industry, Air Canada VP Nino Montagnese said that Omicron has ushered in a wave of renewed uncertainty that coincided with the holidays and impacted the airline industry yet again.
“But unlike the heavy restrictions that kicked off 2021, this setback is a molehill, not a mountain. And this year is nothing like the last. We’re stronger, wiser and well-prepared to manage the potential effects of COVID-19,” he said.
“Despite the confusion created by a new variant, our concerted efforts meant that the vacations of our customers were largely unaffected during the peak holiday period,” he said, and added, “As we continue the winter season, a resurgence of COVID and new government regulations have reduced demand in some Sun destinations, leading to unavoidable disruptions to Air Canada’s flight schedule.”
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Category: Business, Local News, Tourism, Travel
Currently have a non-refundable AC flight booked to Grand Cayman on 01/19 returning 01/26. Does anyone happen to know if we would get a voucher or refund if we decide to cancel?
And the clown show continues.
No loss to Cayman less stress on our infrastructure and lower infection rate and spread of omicron if only The Corona Express would cut its flights now too errry lickle ting would be alright !
In case you haven’t noticed, MOST of our cases are community transmission and not travelers.
Still can’t get over the fact Kenny is Minister of Tourism, what a bumpy ride Cayman is in for.
Let’s be clear here– they did NOT cancel Turks and Caicos.
They cancelled Cayman because we do not accept unvaccinated children, so it is an unfriendly destination for families, leading to low bookings and poor economics.
This decision was the result of Cayman not of Air Canada. They did what any business would do. Our tourism will suffer further. All for what? Preventing the virus from coming in? LOL.
@1:24pm…and you know this how??
Can you explain the reasons for the other destinations being cancelled since you are in the “know.”
All please note. Airlines are cancelling flights mainly for commercial reasons, barring weather in some areas. Covid has had a commercial impact on airlines, lack of staffing primarily, but also the other direct and indirect effects of covid and worldwide lockdown…increased fuel prices, etc.. it costs them more to put and aircraft in the air. Combine that with many people choosing to limit their leisure travel. In many markets, load factors are lower. Load factors are an airline’s ultimate marker.
Airlines couldn’t care less about the protocols for passengers after they leave their planes and set foot in a new destination. Airlines have certain responsibilities to ensure people meet while they’re passengers; when that role ends they couldn’t care. They don’t give 2 shits about Cayman’s covid protocols after pax have disembarked. That’s for potential passengers to worry about.
The cancellations and reduced service we see from some airlines has less to do with Cayman’s covid protocols than their own financial interests! That’s the bottom line (pardon the pun).
The bottom line is there aren’t enough passengers to justify these flights.
07 @ 11:07 am – Duh! My point exactly – that’s what load factors mean!
Was that really necessary 11:07 ? 😔
Just wanted to show you how to say it in one short sentence.
Do you what’s really interesting 8:44 – in a recent survey 21% of respondents were reluctant to fly for fear of facing confrontation / conflicts, – adjust yourself 😉
As I recall you banned all their flights for over a year. They will be back…slowly.
The lack of demand IS due to Cayman’s protocols.
Which are almost non existent compared to those faced by non Canadian Caymanians seeking entry to Canada.
fair play to air canada for calling out places like cayman for their nonsensical regulations.
It’s the opposite: Canadian Federal government wants Canadians to stay locked away in Canada and has advised them not to travel anywhere. Their rules are a magnitude crazier than ours and nationalistic in purpose.
Exactly 12:45!
Here is the list of restrictions Canada imposes on unvaxed Canadian children under 12yo when returning to Canada:
Unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated children under 12 must complete pre-entry, arrival and Day-8 tests, unless you have evidence that the child had a positive COVID-19 test taken 14 to 180 days prior to arrival in Canada or the child is under 5 years of age.
For the next 14 days, the under-12 children must also:
-not attend school, camp, team sports or daycare
-not attend large or crowded settings, indoors or outdoors, such as an amusement park or sporting events
-not take buses, subways, trains or other crowded transportation
-not attend a setting where they may have contact with vulnerable people (e.g. long term care facility), including people who are immunocompromised, regardless of that person’s vaccination status or public health measures
-stay in a place that allows the child to avoid all contact with any person that: has an underlying medical condition that makes the person susceptible to complications related to COVID-19, or has a compromised immune system from a medical condition or treatment; or is 65 years of age or older
-limit contact with others:
-remain with their fully vaccinated parent or guardian, as much as possible
-wear a mask and physically distance when in contact with non-household members.
not as bad as Cayman! we still have a quarantine of 16 days for unvaxed kids plus their parent…so not sure what the point of this is.
Lots of Canadians still going to Montego Bay and Barbados this month.
@9:19am hmmm..doesn’t parts of Canada subject to curfew now..Quebec comes to mind..10pm -6am I believe.
Don’t blame Cayman for canada’s problems..
With the foreign carriers suspending service to Cayman for economic reasons (rightfully so) this clearly highlights the importance of Cayman Airways to Cayman.
Yes Cayman Airways is unprofitable and costing us big $, but imagine the cost if we didn’t have our own airline in times like these, where we could be cut off from air travel completely?
Fair statement. I used to complain about the prices from Cayman airways, but would always prefer to have an option that is operated by the country at least, in the event global airlines refuse to travel.
Same concept with food supply I guess, It would be nice to have a portion of our food grown locally despite the prices, because if other nations decide they won’t export to us… what will we do.
8:32, Pretty boy Trump and friendly dictator made a gift of over $50 billion in 2020 which was a bailout to all the major American airlines. Totally non repayable from our American taxpayers.
Think you need to comprehend who the real tyrant is in your small world. Remember January 6th last year?
Seek help. You need to get over it.
If one is a believer and supporter of democracy in America it takes a lot to get over an attempted coup d’etat.
Pretty boy Trump? Seriously? What does that even mean? How is it relevant to Air Canada?
How does January 6th tie into Air Canada canceling Caribbean routes?
Utterly irrational garbage.
Well, you did ban all the commercial flights for over a year. It wasn’t them that cut you off.
The foreign carriers did not cut you off. You did it to yourself when you suspended everything but CA repatriation flights.
Unless that allow returning residents and others to come in on their special one-way repatriation flights, Cayman should refuse their landing.
Yes great idea that will really help us shoot up the list of desirable places to go on holiday!
They are prepared to hold Caymanians (students, business persons, tourists) hostage in Canada, whilst rescuing Canadians from Cayman and flying planes empty to Cayman for that purpose? Nice moral equivalency.
There is nothing about morality here.
You can choose to bar them from landing if you want, this was done already in 2020. Just if you jerk your travel partners around (which has already be done) you risk consequences. This is how we lost AA until at least Feb when PACT decided not to re-open in October last year.
If need arose Cayman Airways could organize a flight to Toronto.
No one is preventing a Caymanian in Toronto from flying Air Canada to MIA and getting on Cayman Airways.
Further the change is not immediate so a customer can move their flight up.
I can gtee that if 150 Caymanians wanted to buy tickets back and forth on the route every Wed or Saturday, then we would still have regular flights going.
Nicer to suggest that they allow one-way tickets on the outbound leg as well as the return-to-Canada leg. They can even sell them as ‘no services’ flights if they want. (Bring your own food & water.) That way the airline can feel comfortable that they have no moral responsibility not to strand passengers that they brought down, which is the reason for the one-way-to-Canada flights.
Also, remember the flag on the tail of the airplane. And which direction they are worried about helping people to travel. Air Canada is providing an argument for Cayman Airways. (Just please don’t take the one-way up and then expect CAL to come do a repatriation flight please. At least not from any further than MIA.)
Hold Caymanians hostage in Canada? News to me – flying back from Canada for Christmas. Jut flew through the States rather than direct. Canceling a direct flight is not quite the same as holding people hostage.
Great idea! Let’s ban all incoming flights. Covid will be gone, prices will fall in the shops, everything will be sweetness and light. Cayman will be heaven on earth! Of course no one will have a job or a business or a way to make ends meet but that’s a fair price to pay for full employment for Caymanians in the fishing industry!
5:33, thank you!! Too many people are too stupid to see it this way!
They still think it’s travelers causing high number of Covid cases despite Government statistics CLEARLY stating is community cases more often that travelers.
They think people can survive with no income when businesses have to shut down.
Great. There goes my family’s annual February vacation to Saskatoon!
Oh well, I guess I’ll have to stay in Cayman. #Blessed
LOL Weather too good n cool right now to go anywhere anyway:)
#stranded
Just waiting on AA to push back their planned restart in mid Feb.
Issue #1 – It is very likely that AA, United, Delta, and SWA will push their restart dates. Travelers are not going to fill up the flights as long as the day 2, 5 & 10 testing is required.
Issue #2 – Until unvaccinated kids are allowed without quarantine there will be no families booking trips here.
These two issues should make the people who do not want tourism to return feel much better.
These two issues should scare the hell out of anyone who depends on tourism for a living.
No big deal. After 2 weeks of tourists, SMB was covered in rubbish again. Bottles, paper, half eaten food. Good riddance to them.
Oh please, blame the tourists for that when you and I both know that there weren’t many tourists on island. All that was from NYE celebrations from local.
@5:06 I searched Webster’s dictionary for Ingorant and there you were in color!
Yep! Checked United yesterday and they show nothing until March and even then. The flights look like placeholders vs real flights. 😢
With so many restrictions in place here, tourists are canceling and going to other places that they can enjoy vacation without being forced to take umpteen tests. We’re not going to see demand return until we are truly open.
….Feb …’23
“ a resurgence of COVID and new government regulations have reduced demand in some Sun destinations, leading to unavoidable disruptions to Air Canada’s flight schedule.”
In other words, it’s not economically feasible to be flying at 25-30% capacity, due to overburdening government restrictions, which discourage travel. Can’t blame the airlines!
I just returned from vacation on JetBlue from Ft Lauderdale, with less than 50 people the flight.
You solved it completely. It’s all about the money
Get vaccinated
everything is all about the money
Exactly! Because without money all will be well on Cayman! Money? Who needs it on a rock that is one of the most expensive places on earth to live! Feel free to donate all the money you have to charity, they sure could use your help – after all you seem to think you don’t need any.
Let’s be clear that Canada is telling their residents not to travel, delaying/cancelling in person school again, etc. not Cayman. They don’t have the LFTs or PCR turnaround time we have. Not normal times ANYWHERE.
Meanwhile
CMR the Premiere fav gossip column sends this out and has to later retract it
Smh
https://caymanmarlroad.com/compass-erroneously-reports-air-canada-flight-suspensions/
“And of course we have to apologize for believing the Compass who still have it up!“
air Canada camceled flights to their weakest destinations in the Caribbean not the entire Caribbean. The cancellations only adds up to 8% sales of Caribbean flights.
Canadians can still fly with Air Canada to Montego Bay, Barbados and Bahamas. All 3 places do not have as restrictive testing requirements on arrival as Cayman.
The 2, 5 and 10 day testing requirement is turning Canadians away from here.
We are unique with our requirements for fully vaccinated Canadian tourists.
Try and enter Canada from Cayman. There is nothing nonsensical about our approach. How did Canadians seemingly become so entitled?
Strangely enough I did. Was pretty straightforward. Pre test, test on arrival, no qurantine unless positive, no day, or 10 testing. Your point is….?
….that it has changed since you went.
What a joke of an airline. Nothing to do with Covid, just poor management.
seems to me that poor management would be to fly routes that are 30% booked. The fear of omicron has led to mass cancellations by travellers and understandably so, as the cost and inconvenience of being stranded abroad is a pretty big disincentive. Its easy to cut back on number of flights per day or week and consolidate, except when you are already down to one flight a week
It is actually good management as people do not want to fly here at the moment.
Wonder why?
More to do with our excessive rules and testing.
4:31, It is not joke management when 20% of Air Canada’s pilots and cabin service people test positive for COVID. They had no choice but to only service their most travelled routes to the Caribbean.
But I thought they were vaccinated. Hmmm…makes you wonder.
*poor CIG management
Trudeau is a pretty boy tyrant.
4:12, Air Canada is not a state airline so Trudeau has nothing to do with the decision. Air Canada Is still flying to other places in the Caribbean.
Unlike Cayman Airways Air Canada has to make a profit.
Most airlines are political tools these days. Air Canada received $5.879 billion dollars from Canadian Taxpayers just in 2021 via a LEEFF liquidity agreement, which will be forgiven and written off like every other bursary they’ve received since the airline was formed.
8:32, Pretty boy Trump and friendly dictator made a gift of over $50 billion in 2020 which was a bailout to all the major American airlines. Totally non repayable from our American taxpayers.
Think you need to comprehend who the real tyrant is in your small world. Remember January 6th last year?
Trudeau is still a pretty boy tyrant. Wake up.
Think you are getting Trudeau mixed up with Trump. Pay closer attention.
Are you okay? Your last brain cell just flew away.