Sunwing cancelling majority of remaining winter flights from Regina
Sunwing has cancelled the majority of its flights out of Regina for the remainder of the winter travel season.
The cancellations, due to “extenuating circumstances,” are effective Feb. 4, 2023.
“This impacts weekly flights from Regina to Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, with the exception of Sunday departures to Puerto Vallarta starting on February 5th,” Sunwing confirmed in an emailed statement.
James Bogusz, president and CEO of the Regina Airport Authority, said this creates a major challenge for passengers.
“This is now the second round of significant cancellations (Sunwing has) done on relatively short notice and obviously people have vacations planned,” Bogusz said.
“These are folks, who in many cases have booked months in advance to get away to their sun destination and now they are going to be disappointed.”
Some Family Day weekend departures are also exempt, including flights to Puerto Vallarta on Feb. 17, Mazatlán on Feb. 17, and Cancun on Feb. 18 and 20. Those flights will operate as planned.
Travel agents including Ragan Sagar have been busy fielding calls from frustrated travels as a result of the cancellations.
Sagar, who manages C World Travel, said he has never had to deal with cancellations quite like this.
“What’s happening with Sunwing right now is completely different. Nobody was expecting they were going to take operations out from Regina,” he said.
Sunwing is offering customers the ability to transfer their vacation packages to same-day departures from Winnipeg, Saskatoon or other Canadian airports at their original pricing, pending availability.
Customers can also opt to cancel their vacations for a full refund, if preferred.
"We sincerely apologize to our valued customers and airport partner in Regina for the inconvenience and disruption,” Sunwing said.
“Following the preliminary cancellations in January, the difficult decision to cancel more of our winter program was necessary due to operational and business constraints that would prevent us from delivering the standards of service our customers in Regina expect and deserve when travelling with Sunwing.”
The airline said it hopes to re-establish a full program for flights out of Regina for the 2023-24 season.
“We certainly hope to not see these disruptions in the future. This has been one of the most challenging winter seasons I’ve seen by a wide margin here in Regina,” Bogusz said.
WESTJET ADDS ADDITIONAL CALGARY-BOUND FLIGHTS TO YQR
Bogusz said it is not all bad news for YQR.
WestJet is adding two additional daily flights to Calgary beginning in mid-February, he said, after Air Canada cut all of its Calgary flights from Saskatchewan.
“In total, this will represent about 5,000 new seats travelling to Calgary on a monthly basis for departures,” he said.
“This is huge news and this is going to help our visitor economy.”
Regina will now have 200 flights to Calgary each month, according to Bogusz. Depending on the day of the week, there will be five to seven daily Calgary-bound flights.
“Calgary is a major market out of Regina and it is typically our top market annually in terms of where people travel to,” Bogusz said.
In general, travel demand increased throughout 2022, Bogusz said.
“Despite having a very high cancellation rate in December with Sunwing, weather delays, etc, we still saw 74 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. That’s the best month we’ve had all year,” he said.
He believes travel levels will increase up to 85 per cent in 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
What weather experts say to expect this summer in Canada
Get ready to feel the heat, Canada. Weather experts are predicting more sunshine and warmer temperatures for the summer.
New COVID-19 subvariants become the dominant strains in Canada
More than four years after COVID-19 effectively shut down the world, two new variants of COVID-19 have become the dominant strains of the novel coronavirus in Canada.
Israel sends tanks into Rafah on raids amid Gaza-wide offensive
Israeli tanks mounted raids across Rafah in defiance of the World Court for a second day on Wednesday, after Washington said the assault did not amount to a major ground operation in the southern Gazan city that U.S. officials have warned Israel to avoid.
Five more Ontario school boards join lawsuit against social media platforms
Five additional Ontario school boards and two independent private schools have joined a lawsuit against the owners of multiple social media platforms, including Snapchat, TikTok, and Facebook.
P.E.I. kiteboarder 'lucky to be alive' after shark attack in Turks and Caicos
A professional kiteboarder from P.E.I. says he has been seriously injured in a shark attack that occurred while he was snorkelling in the Turks and Caicos Islands last week.
'Unruly passenger' forces WestJet flight to make emergency landing in B.C.
A WestJet flight heading to Calgary had to make an emergency landing in northern B.C. Monday due to an incident involving an 'unruly passenger,' Mounties say.
In bizarre provocation, North Korea flies trash, manure balloons over the South
North Korea flew hundreds of balloons carrying trash and manure toward South Korea in one of its most bizarre provocations against its rival in years, prompting the South’s military to mobilize chemical and explosive response teams to recover objects and debris in different parts of the country.
Introducing peanut butter during infancy can help protect against a peanut allergy later on, new study finds
New evidence suggests that feeding children smooth peanut butter during infancy and early childhood can help reduce their risk of developing a peanut allergy even years later.
'It was hell': Israeli mother held hostage with her children describes 51 days in captivity
Hagar Brodutch, her three children and four-year-old neighbour were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants from their home in Kfar Aza, Israel on Oct. 7 and held for 51 days. They were released in November, but Brodutch says her thoughts are never far from those still being held in Gaza.