NEWS
Canada’s in dire need of a travel restart plan, says NACC
Air Canada’s Rousseau calls on govt. to eliminate hotel quarantine rule MONTREAL — Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau has called on the federal government to put an end to the hotel quarantine requirement, and to develop a reopening plan for international travel. “The current mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals has proven ineffective. It should be eliminated,” said Rousseau during Air Canada’s Q1 conference call. “We believe that with a vaccination program now underway nationally, a modified and more relevant approach to testing and quarantine would keep Canadians safe while allowing our country to reopen for international travel,” he added. Air Canada isn’t the only airline to call for the end of the hotel quarantine rule. WestJet has also made the same request to the federal government. Rousseau said the government must develop and communicate a reopening plan as it is cautiously optimistic that the country is nearing an “inflection point” with the vaccination rate rising in the middle of a difficult third wave. In the U.S., where the successful vaccination rollout has started to plateau, air travel is hitting the highest numbers seen since the start of the pandemic. More than 1.6 million travellers were screened at U.S. airports this past Sunday, another record high. Meanwhile the EU is moving ahead with its Digital Green Pass system of COVID-19 vaccination certificates with an eye to allowing travel within the 27-country EU bloc this summer, and potentially for fully vaccinated Americans as well.
“After over 14 months of restrictions, Canadians, who we know are eager to travel, want and deserve clear guidelines. They want to know when they will be able to travel internationally again and under what protocols,” said Rousseau. He said Air Canada expects domestic travel will lead its recovery, as was the case in the U.S. Peak summer leisure travel in July and August, including to Europe, is expected to be pushed to September and October. Meanwhile corporate travel likely won't come back until after Labour Day, said Air Canada’s chief commercial officer, Lucie Guillemette. Rousseau and Guillemette said Air Canada is seeing strong demand through next winter to Mexico, the D.R., Hawaii and Florida as Canadians anticipate their first post-pandemic holiday. One analyst on Air Canada’s Q1 call said he expects air traffic will ultimately rebound strongly, but only if restrictions are lifted, noting that the government-imposed air travel restrictions are “not set to be materially eased in time to salvage much of the upcoming peak summer travel period.” Meanwhile demand for refunds is slower than expected despite reaching out to customers proactively, said Air Canada. The airline announced its $5.9 billion deal with the federal government for federal aid last month. Air Canada’s Q1 loss for 2021 was $1.3 billion. Revenue in the quarter totalled $729 million, down from $3.7 billion in the first three months of 2020. Capacity was down 82.1% compared with a year ago, while traffic was down 89.5%. Air Canada plans to almost double its Q2 capacity from the same quarter in 2020, but says compared with the same period in 2019 that Q2 capacity is expected to be down 84%.
TORONTO — No one really expected Canada to be included on England’s ‘green’ list of travel destinations, not yet anyway. So why are airlines and industry groups here so interested in the list? Because it’s part of a travel restart plan, something that’s sorely needed in Canada for the months ahead. Britain’s list, effective May 17, follows the ‘traffic light system’ adopted by several other countries amid the pandemic. Countries are classified as green, amber or red. There are currently 12 countries on Britain’s ‘green list’, including Portugal, Israel, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Canada and the U.S., and the majority of the world’s countries, are on the ‘amber’ list. The green list just means that travellers coming back to England from those 12 approved countries don’t have to quarantine upon their return. It’s not a travel bubble, because the 12 countries may still have restrictions of their own. But it’s a step in the right direction, says Mike McNaney, President and CEO of the National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC). In the NACC’s statement McNaney said: “In the midst of the pandemic in February, the British government recognized the critical need to plan for the eventual safe re-opening of international travel, and began working with its aviation sector to develop a restart process. “On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who have lost their jobs in the aviation and travel sector, and the scores of communities that have lost service, it is critical that the federal government now follow the UK example and work immediately with industry to develop a restart plan,” he said. Other industry groups including ACTA have long called for a restart plan too. Last week ACTA sounded the alarm over the very real possibility of Canada being “left behind” in global recovery efforts, should the government not develop a clear Roadmap for Recovery. The NACC says that the travel plan from the British government demonstrates that countries can plan for the careful restart of travel and protect public health, while also providing the May 13, 2021 | TRAVELWEEK | 9
