From Travel off Path – link to source story
AAISHA ALI FEBRUARY 2, 2021
In a statement given last week, Aeromexico has announced it will be suspending all flights to Canada this month.
The Mexican carrier noted that it would cease flights to Toronto as of February 8th, and those to Montreal and Vancouver as of February 10th, to provide accommodations for current travelers to have a way to return.
The news comes as Canada has recently unveiled strict regulations and restrictions for travel, including the suspension of flights to sun destinations by Canadian carriers, mandatory PCR testing upon arrival for returning passengers, and mandatory hotel quarantines.
Canada Increasing Travel Restrictions
The suspension of Aeromexico flights to Canada comes as the Canadian Government makes a push to restrict and discourage travel for residents.
The latest data reports Canada currently has over 785 thousand cases of COVID-19, with over 20 thousand deaths.
Subsequently, Canada is resorting to tighten measures to reduce transmission of COVID-19, as well as halt the emergence of variants of the novel coronavirus.
Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau disclosed new travel restrictions to combat the nation’s struggle with the global pandemic.
These new restrictions include the suspension of flights to most sun destinations by WestJet, Air Canada, Air Transat, and Sunwing from now until at least April 30th.
Additionally, all international flights arriving in Canada may only land in one of four airports: Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary.
Mandatory PCR testing will also be held at the aforementioned airports to all returning passengers in addition to the current test requirements travelers have of attaining a negative test result 72 hours prior to departure.
A mandatory hotel quarantine is also set to come in effect in the coming days, with returning travelers obliged with the costs of a supervised hotel stay as they await the result of their tests taken at the airports. The stay is reported to take up to three days with an estimated cost of up to $2000.
Alternatives for Canadians
While the suspension of services to Mexico and other sun destinations is suspended by Canadian carriers, some unwavering Canadians are carrying on with their travel plans by rebooking flights with U.S. airlines.
As Canadians maintain services of flights to and from the United States, travelers may simply first travel to the U.S. and then continue on to their sun destination.
Though the ability of Canadians to travel to sun destinations is not completely eliminated, travelers will still be subject to mandatory testing and quarantines upon their returns.
In addition, Canadians also have the option to travel to some sunny destinations which Canadian carriers are still operating in.
As mentioned earlier, flights to the U.S. are still in service, and this includes sunny destinations such as Hawaii, Florida, and Arizona.
The option to vacation in the U.S. also presents a loophole to bypass the coming mandatory hotel quarantine, as vacationers can book their return flight to a U.S. city close to the border, and then simply return to Canada by driving through a land border, rather than arriving by air.
Currently, those returning to Canada by land border do not need to present a negative COVID-19 test result either, however, this is expected to change in the coming weeks.
Canadian authorities have also recently been in talks with the US to tighten travel for Canadians into the U.S.