Those flying with WestJet should brace for changes to their travel plans
Article content
Those flying with WestJet should brace for changes to their travel plans.
Advertisement
Article content
Interim CEO Harry Taylor announced Thursday that the “unpredictable” spread of the Omicron variant in the company’s workforce has led to a significant increase in delays and cancellations over the past 72 hours. The Calgary-based airline is now planning to consolidate 15 per cent of its flights through Jan. 31.
Article content
“Despite all contingency planning, in addition to hiring back thousands of WestJetters to safely support peak operations, we find ourselves no longer able to predictably resource our planned schedule due to Omicron impact,” Taylor said in a news release.
“Schedule changes will be implemented over the coming days, and while consolidation is a last resort, it demonstrates the reality of the service we planned versus that we can now realistically deliver.”
Advertisement
Article content
WestJet will prioritize the consolidation of flights that will have the least amount of disruption, and all affected travellers will be notified. Changes will be made across the board for WestJet, including to sunspot, international, trans-border and domestic flights, but they will focus on consolidating same-day flights and lower-demand markets.
Article content
Refunds or the option to change plans will be available for WestJet-initiated cancellations or schedule changes where the change is greater than 90 minutes or one or more stops added.
WestJet was averaging about 450 flights a day in December, so the consolidations will affect about 65 flights a day in January. Pre-pandemic, the airline averaged more than 700 departures a day.
Advertisement
Article content
Taylor called on support from federal and provincial governments to minimize disruption. He pointed to the Canadian airline system being the only fully vaccinated ecosystem and the most tested consumer sector in Canada.
“National alignment and standardization for our sector, similar to the approaches being taken by provinces to stabilize other essential services such as health care, would remove inconsistent provincial isolation requirements that are restricting staffing abilities,” he said.
Angela Mah, a spokeswoman for Air Canada, said in an emailed statement that approximately four per cent of its flights had been affected by weather and other service conditions, with customers automatically rebooked to travel within 24 hours.
Advertisement
Article content
Air Canada has not announced widespread changes yet, but that does not mean they are not coming.
“For its 2022 schedule, Air Canada continues to evaluate and adjust its route network as required in response to the trajectory of the pandemic, government-imposed travel restrictions and quarantines, regulatory requirements and overall demand,” she said. “Affected customers will be contacted by Air Canada and offered options, including refunds for eligible customers and alternative routings where available.”
Rick Erickson, an aviation analyst based in Calgary, said all airlines are facing compounding issues due to Omicron. There are different and constantly evolving health regulations in each jurisdiction they fly into and it gets more complicated for international destinations. There are also issues with the spread of the virus putting strain on staffing levels while causing travellers to cancel their plans.
Advertisement
Article content
He did say those on board a plane are actually in a safe situation due to the air-cleaning systems, comparing it to the environment in an operating room.
Still, cancellations are industry-wide, with thousands of flights being cancelled in the past week due to COVID-19 and weather conditions.
“This really adds to the uncertainty on the part of the traveller,” said Erickson. “If you’re going to a sunspot destination in a foreign jurisdiction, WestJet may only be flying there two to three, possibly four times a week . . . and if you are scheduled to come back on a Wednesday and that flight doesn’t leave Canada in the first place to go down to Mexico or the Caribbean, you’re not going to get on that flight on Wednesday.”
He said this often puts the onus on the traveller to come up with alternate plans, which can often be expensive and in short supply.
“Trying to find another last-minute ticket back could be both costly and, again, fraught with all kinds of misadventure,” said Erickson.
Twitter: @JoshAldrich03
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vY2FsZ2FyeWhlcmFsZC5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3Mvb21pY3Jvbi1zcHJlYWQtZm9yY2VzLXdlc3RqZXQtdG8tY2FuY2VsLXNvbWUtZmxpZ2h0cy1jb25zb2xpZGF0ZS1vdGhlcnPSAZgBaHR0cHM6Ly9jYWxnYXJ5aGVyYWxkLmNvbS9idXNpbmVzcy9vbWljcm9uLXNwcmVhZC1mb3JjZXMtd2VzdGpldC10by1jYW5jZWwtc29tZS1mbGlnaHRzLWNvbnNvbGlkYXRlLW90aGVycy93Y20vMDNiYmNiOGUtZWFlMi00NmQxLTk0NWUtNTkyODllMDUxYTE1L2FtcC8?oc=5
2021-12-30 22:41:22Z
1235126742
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar