The federal government and Canada's major airlines announced last Friday the suspension of flights to beach destinations until May in an effort to prevent the spread of covid-19.
For this reason, airlines will make arrangements with customers currently traveling to the affected regions to rearrange their return flights, Justin Trudeau announced at a press conference.
The new measures have affected 15 Air Canada destinations, and 14 Westjet destinations, according to the airlines, Air Transat announced on its website that it would suspend scheduled operations until the end of April as a result of the new restrictions. AirCanada said it plans to operate a series of one-way commercial flights from the affected destinations after Jan. 31 to attract customers back to Canada.
The carrier said in a press release that customers affected by the new rules "will be offered full refunds as services are suspended with no alternative available." Westjet said it was working to bring its guests already on vacation back to Canada over the next two weeks and would notify those booked to travel during the affected period of its operations.
Air Transat also said it was working on a repatriation plan for all its customers and would announce details shortly. "We appreciate the work that Canadian airlines and their front-line workers have done to make air travel safer and bring Canadians home when this pandemic hit last spring," said Trudeau.
“With the challenges we currently face with Covid-19, both here at home and abroad, we all agree that now is not the time to fly." In addition to these measures, Trudeau said all international passenger flights must land only in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal.
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