Air Canada flights grounded

SYDNEY — Air Canada has confirmed they will be suspending Sydney to Halifax flights from the JA Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport as of Jan. 10, 2022, until further notice.

However, media spokesperson Pascale Dery said their commitment to Cape Breton continues with their service into Sydney from Montreal and Toronto and there are plans to increase capacity to Sydney for the 2022 summer.

Air Canada is planning to operate a daily flight between Montreal and Sydney, as well as maintain service between Toronto and Sydney.

In an email response to questions, Dery said as stated during their latest quarterly results, they are witnessing a strong rebound in flights for visiting friends and families and leisure traffic as they continue to rebuild their network.

She said the vast majority of their customers transit through Montreal and Toronto to access Air Canada's extensive North American and global networks.

“We announced new domestic, U.S., sun and international services, as well as our return to popular seasonal destinations in Europe next summer, where we're already observing healthy demand signals for 2022,” she said.

Dery said plans for the summer of 2022 are subject to change depending on the trajectory of the pandemic, their schedule and capacity that are reviewed constantly.

WestJet didn't respond to a request for related information by deadline but the airline offers a Sydney to Halifax flight daily in December with the exception of Dec 2, 5, 9, 12, 18 and 25.

In January, the flights are expected to continue Monday to Friday.

Sydney Airport Authority CEO Mike MacKinnon said Air Canada's Sydney to Halifax flight suspension was presented as part of their 2022 network plan for Atlantic Canada, so they were expecting it.

He said Air Canada had already suspended this flight route Nov. 4, but it will return for the Christmas peak season Dec. 21-Jan. 10.

“They officially notified us this past Friday that the Halifax flight would be suspended indefinitely after Jan 10, 2022,” he said.

MacKinnon said obviously this is not good news but there is some good news in the airline's network plan for 2022. He said Air Canada is going to keep the Sydney to Montreal flight year-round. Their plan is to operate daily flights to both Toronto and Montreal from Sydney all year, connecting over 90 per cent of currently carried traffic coming out of Sydney to their final destinations which are Ontario, Quebec, the West and international, continuing their focus to increase flying direct to their hubs in Toronto and Montreal.

MacKinnon said the requirement for travellers to be double vaccinated to fly has been in place since Oct 30. The Nov. 30 deadline was for those who were given an extension while awaiting second shots. He feels travellers do feel confident and safe flying, commenting the industry has been a leader in implementing health and safety protocols ever since the pandemic began.

“Too early to say if the requirement to be double vaccinated will result in more air travellers,” he said. “We continue to see traffic at just 50 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and are forecasting that to remain the case for the next year.”

TRAVEL REGULATIONS

Anyone 12 years of age, plus four months, and older needs to be fully vaccinated in order to board domestic or international flights in Canada, including charter and foreign airlines carrying commercial passengers

Travellers must be ready at any point in their journey to show their official proof of vaccination, have received their second dose at least 14 full days prior to the day they travel, have no signs or symptoms of COVID-19 and wear a mask.