Canada’s two biggest airlines scored below average for customer satisfaction among major North American carriers, according to a new survey, part of a trend of growing passenger frustration across the industry. Conducted by J.D. Power, the poll found Air Canada and WestJet fell below the average customer satisfaction figure of 782 on a 1,000-point scale…

Ottawa’s proposal to increase air travel security fees by 33 percent will cost passengers more than a quarter billion dollars next year, according to estimates from a report by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO). Budget 2023 released by the federal government in March proposed to increase the Air Travellers Security Charge (ATSC) by 32.85 percent,…

Charges against an Ontario man who refused to stay in a quarantine hotel in 2021—when the federal government required all air travellers arriving in Canada to do so—have been dropped, according to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF). In an April 19 news release, the Justice Centre said charges against Rachid Chadli were withdrawn…

Canada is dropping the COVID-19 testing requirement for air travellers from China, Hong Kong, and Macau that was put in place for less than three months after Beijing announced a sudden reopening of its borders in January. The temporary pre-departure testing requirement will be dropped as of 12:01 a.m. EDT on March 17, 2023, the Public Health…

A group representing the Canadian airport industry is calling on the Liberal government to align with the international community in ending the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for aviation employees and air travellers. “The aviation community has been a supportive partner of the federal government in facilitating the vaccine mandate for travel since October 2021. However, today…

Some travellers flying with Canada’s Sunwing Airlines are left stranded as the company struggles with a technical issue that affects check-in and boarding. The company said in a statement on Twitter on April 18 that its systems provider is experiencing a “network-wide system issue” that has impacted check-in and boarding and has resulted in ongoing delays for…

Some travellers flying with Canada’s Sunwing Airlines are left stranded as the company struggles with a technical issue that affects check-in and boarding. The company said in a statement on Twitter on April 18 that its systems provider is experiencing a “network-wide system issue” that has impacted check-in and boarding and has resulted in ongoing delays for…

Alberta is calling on the federal government to revoke its proof of vaccination mandate for air travellers. On March 16, members of Alberta’s legislative assembly voted in favour of a motion to recognize that Canada’s current air travel restrictions “have no measurable public health benefit and continue to impact hundreds of thousands of jobs in…

OTTAWA—Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says the federal government is “looking seriously” at tougher travel measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including mandatory hotel quarantines for air travellers returning from non-essential trips abroad. “I would like to stress that we are taking this measure very, very seriously. We are considering the issue very, very seriously,”…

OTTAWA—The federal government says it plans to require air travellers to test negative for COVID-19 before landing in Canada in response to concerns that people vacationing abroad could bring the novel coronavirus home with them. Cabinet ministers met Wednesday morning following criticism from the premiers of Canada’s two largest provinces that federal efforts at the…