`It's worth it': Air travellers not deterred by calls to stay home
Health authorities urging Canadians to avoid international travel due to Omicron
Travellers at Trudeau airport did their best on Friday to look past increasingly stern messages from health authorities as they prepared to head for sunnier climes or long-awaited family gatherings.
“I haven't travelled for three years, and I really need to recharge my batteries,” said Jean-mathieu Brulotte, who was inside the departure hall getting ready to fly to Cuba with his mother. “It's hard not to think about the possibility of the border closing, but we decided to go anyway. We booked three months ago when things were fine, and we don't have cancellation insurance.”
Federal Health Minister Jeanyves Duclos once again urged Canadians on Friday to avoid international travel, echoing a message hammered home by several of his colleagues in recent days. He also said Canada would require people returning home after foreign trips of fewer than 72 hours to produce a negative PCR test.
COVID -19 cases are on the rise across Canada because of the Omicron variant. On Friday, Quebec reported 3,768 new cases, a 38 per cent jump from Thursday and the highest single-day total since the start of the pandemic. Some 312 people were in hospital.
Ottawa put in place several new travel-related measures this month, including a requirement for all incoming travellers — except those coming from the United States — to take a COVID-19 test, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated.
“It's getting very difficult to travel,” said San Francisco-area resident Aimene Belkaceni, who was returning to the U.S. after visiting his wife, a student here. “The rules change very quickly.”
Unlike PRE-COVID-19 times, Trudeau airport's departure terminal was eerily quiet early Friday afternoon. Dozens of passengers lined up at the Sunwing check-in counter, but there was plenty of space in the concourse for people to avoid bumping into each other.
Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) is currently reviewing its traffic forecasts for December — normally a busy travel month — because “the new measures and opinions announced by the federal government in recent days may be a game-changer,” said spokesperson Eric Forest on Friday. While the targets will probably be revised downward, ADM said the situation is too unpredictable for precise figures to be shared.
Some 3.6 million people travelled through Trudeau airport during the first 10 months of 2021, ADM data show. That's 28 per cent fewer than a year ago, and represents a 79 per cent drop from 2019 levels.
Montrealer Frédéric Gagliolo, preparing to fly to Washington to visit his parents, acknowledged he was taking a calculated risk by travelling during a pandemic but said it was important for him to be with his family for Christmas.
“I'm going to the U.S., where things are worse than they are here, so I'm a little bit worried,” he said. “The trip itself doesn't bother me. Everybody has been tested, so the risks of being at the airport or on the plane are low.”
Rachel, a Mcgill University student from California who didn't want to give her last name, said being stuck in Montreal last Christmas only strengthened her resolve to go home this year.
“I'm definitely worried at the prospect of new measures that could make it difficult to come back, but it's worth it to be able to see my family,” she said. “I've not seen them in a while. Ultimately, I'm fine with the risk of getting stuck for a few days or having to quarantine when I come back.”
Montrealers Marie-claude Mackay and Yvan Bélisle said their destination had a lot to do with their decision to travel. The couple, both teachers, were flying to Cuba for a week.
“I'm hoping there's very little Omicron down there,” Mackay said. “All resort employees in Cuba are double vaccinated, and we're going to be staying in a remote section of the hotel to limit contacts. We're reassured.”