Airline set to double number of flights in July
Calgary airport makes masks mandatory for all passengers, increases cleaning
Westjet has announced plans to double its flights next month as the Calgary-based airline resumes some travel that had been curtailed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The airline released its updated July schedule on Monday, with additional domestic and U.S. flights.
It comes as the Calgary International Airport implements a new mask requirement for all guests and staff starting this week.
Westjet will offer flights to 39 destinations in Canada, five in the U.S. and one in Mexico from July 5 to Aug. 4, the airline announced.
That’s slightly more than double the number of flights it offered in June, but still down 76 per cent from its July 2019 level of service.
The airline suspended its international operations March 22 amid widespread shutdowns across the economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even with increased capacity, Westjet is still only flying five per cent of its normal schedule.
“An increase in flight numbers is not an indication of our recovery or return to normal operations,” the company said in a statement.
“We are monitoring our guest loads carefully to ensure we are managing our airline responsibly and will adjust the schedule to meet the needs of our guests, our employees as well as our airline … This schedule reflects where we are seeing demand, while also considering the travel restrictions and quarantines that were put in place a number of months ago.”
A full list of Westjet routes offered in July, including those with direct flights from Calgary, can be found online.
Alberta entered Stage 2 of its economic relaunch strategy last week, but non-essential travel is still discouraged until the province reaches Stage 3.
Provincial officials have not yet outlined a timeline for advancing to the next stage of relaunch.
Premier Jason Kenney said he has been pushing his provincial counterparts and the federal government to come up with a plan to allow for the resumption of international and domestic travel sooner rather than later.
The Calgary Airport Authority announced that starting Wednesday, all guests and staff must wear a mask or face covering inside its terminals.
The new requirement is in addition to Transport Canada’s existing rules that require passengers to wear masks at screening checkpoints and during flights when they cannot physically distance from others.
“As workers and travellers return to YYC we want them to trust that we remain focused on providing a safe and healthy airport to work at, to begin their journey or to welcome them home,” Calgary Airport Authority president and CEO Bob Sartor said in a news release.
To keep staff and guests safe, the
Calgary airport will have physical-distancing decals and signage reminding people to stay two metres apart if possible.
Additional cleaning has been added for high-touch areas such as kiosks, check-in and boarding gates, handrails, seating, washrooms, baggage carts, escalators and moving sidewalks. The airport has also implemented more hand sanitizer stations in high-traffic locations, it said.
All staff and guests should come with their own masks or face coverings, according to the airport authority.
A global travel advisory still warns Canadians against travel outside of the country. All Canadians returning from abroad, as well as all international travellers entering the country, are required by federal order to self-isolate for 14 days to guard against the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The U.s.-canada border will remain closed to all but essential travel until at least the end of July.
“Goodness knows, we’re not going to get our economy back to full throttle — particularly with Alberta’s huge tourism industry — until we can safely travel again,” Kenney said last week.
The Canadian travel and tourism industry has been calling for “clear direction” on the loosening of travel restrictions, ideally before the end of the summer season.
Westjet’s chief commercial officer Arved von zur Muehlen said the airline looked forward to having Canadians travel “safely” as other restrictions begin to loosen.
“We recognize that Canadians from coast-to-coast continue to travel for essential reasons or are hoping to travel on vacation within Canada or visit family and friends whom they have been isolated from seeing since the onset of COVID -19,” a Westjet spokesperson said in an email.
“As jurisdictions around the world are opening, allowing their citizens to begin flying once again and enabling economies to recover, we believe it is the right time for these conversations in Canada.”