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Domestic routes cut back as flights bringing stranded Canadians home increase
CBC News · Posted: Mar 23, 2020 9:03 AM ET | Last Updated: 37 minutes ago
WestJet and Air Canada are ramping up their efforts to bring Canadians stranded by the COVID-19 pandemic home, even as they are trimming other flight routes back because of a drastic reduction in demand.
Air Canada announced Sunday it would soon be flying two flights out of Morocco to bring home 444 Canadians who have been stranded there since the country effectively closed its borders to deal with an outbreak of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The flights will be from Casablanca to Montreal and will happen on Monday and Wednesday this week.
On Monday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the government of Peru will allow Air Canada to operate three flights out of the country to get Canadians home.
“Our priority at this time is to ensure that we can repatriate as many people as possible,” Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu said. “In the last week alone, we have brought more than 200,000 people back to Canada and we plan to keep operating flights to the end of March and beyond so Canadians continue to have a way home.”
Even as Air Canada is working to bring Canadians home from certain hotspots, the airline says it is postponing launches or extending the temporary suspension of several routes it had planned to offer in Canada and around the world.
ADVISORY TO CANADIANS IN PERU:
François-Philippe Champagne (FPC) ✔@FP_Champagne
We have secured authorizations for @AirCanada to operate 3 flights this week.
Register here: http://bit.ly/2JjGSdD
All united against #COVID19@CanadaPeru
A complete list of the suspended routes is available here.
WestJet changes
Calgary-based airline WestJet is taking similar steps, reducing the number of flights it offers within Canada by about half because the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the demand for air travel. But the airline says it is nonetheless committed to “keeping critical economic lifelines open for the 38 communities we serve across Canada.”
Most of the changes involve the airline making fewer flights between Canadian destinations, as opposed to complete cancellations. The airline has a complete list of its schedule adjustments on its website here.
Even as the airline is scaling back its domestic travel schedule, it is beefing up its attempts to get Canadians who are stranded abroad during the unfolding health crisis home.
Starting on Monday and for the two days that follow, the airline says it will “operate 34 repatriation flights to international and transborder destinations to ensure the safe return of WestJet guests and Canadians who remain abroad.”
“These new flights are in addition to the 10 flights that WestJet has operated this week after the prime minister announced it was time to come home. WestJet will continue to add flights as the need is identified,” the airline said.
All flights will depart Canada as empty planes and return with as many people as possible. All routes are from destinations in the U.S., Central America and Caribbean, including Hawaii, Florida, Arizona, Bahamas, Mexico, Cuba, Barbados, Costa Rica, Jamaica, St. Martin, Belize and Aruba.
Eight of the planned extra flights are already full, the airline says. A complete list of repatriation flights can be found here.