The 1970s

Deregulation of the airline industry in the U.S. in 1978 changed travel forever. As airlines battled it out for market share, fares began to inch down, and route networks grew. Many in the Canadian airline industry wanted deregulation too, but it wouldn’t come for a few more years. However Canadian travellers were soon enamoured of the charter holiday concept brought over by enterprising Brits, laying the foundation for tour operators like Sunflight and later, Carousel. Consortiums like GIANTS were on the rise. American Airlines introduced SABRE, the first CRS, in the 1960s and more followed, and by the mid-1970s travel agents got CRS access. And ACTA debuted after ASTA-Canada folded.

Laker Airways pioneered low-cost air travel and its ‘Skytrain’ flights between London and NYC were a big hit. Travelweek’s own Sue Winiecki was a Laker Airways flight attendant! Meanwhile the first major discount airline in U.S., Southwest Airlines, started in 1971.

On the high seas, some of the biggest players in the cruise industry, including Carnival and Royal Caribbean, first set sail in the early 1970s (Princess Cruises and NCL had a head start, launching in the late 1960s). Walt Disney World opened in 1971. And after successful hotel openings in Toronto in the 1960s, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts founder Isadore (Issy) Sharp took his company international with the 1970 opening of the first Four Seasons property overseas: Inn on the Park London (later Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane).

TRAVELWEEK WAS THERE: Travelweek’s founder and first editor and publisher Wayne Lahtinen, soon joined by associate publisher, managing editor and Ryerson buddy Paul Vickers, kept their new publication (CTM Weekly Bulletin) going in the lean early years thanks in part to a generous offer of free office space from Goway founder Bruce Hodge. The Circulation Dept. was managed by Paul’s wife Pat, who kept track of subscriptions on index cards stored in shoeboxes.

1 NCL (Norwegian Caribbean Lines) cabins, 1974 2 Onboard experience with NCL (Norwegian Caribbean Lines), 1974

3 Carnival Cruise Line's original Mardi Gras (1972), and Carnivale (1975)

4 CTM Weekly Bulletin, October 1976

5 Air Canada DC-9 in the 1970s 6 Lowcost airline pioneer Freddie Laker (and Travelweek's Sue Winiecki next to Freddie on the right) 7 Roy O. Disney and Mickey Mouse, October 1971