Canada’s Sunwing Airlines (WG, Toronto Pearson) has cancelled all its domestic flights for the summer because of ongoing COVID-19 travel restrictions but is resuming flights to Mexico and the Caribbean on July 30 after months of suspended operations.
“Please note that due to ongoing travel restrictions, our summer domestic flight programme has been cancelled for all flights within Canada. Customers with impacted flights will be contacted over the coming weeks,” the company notes on its website.
However, Sunwing is preparing to resume international flights to Mexico and the Caribbean, after Ottawa decided to ease border restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers from July 5, 2021, removing a 14-day federal quarantine requirement and follow-up Covid test even for those who are fully vaccinated.
On July 30, the airline will resume 30 international flights to popular sun destinations from Toronto Pearson and Montréal Trudeau, it announced on its website.
According to a spokesperson, the flight schedule from Toronto will be as follows:
- Cancún, Mexico: 2x weekly (Fridays and Sundays) from July 30; 3x weekly (plus Sundays) from August 21;
- Punta Cana, Dominican Republic: 1x (Saturdays) weekly from July 31, 2x (plus Fridays) weekly from August 20;
- Varadero, Cuba: 1x weekly (Mondays) from August 2;
- Montego Bay, Jamaica: 1x weekly (Sundays) from August 22.
The initial flight schedule from Montreal will be as follows:
- Cancun: 2x weekly (Fridays and Sundays) from July 30;
- Punta Cana: 1x weekly (Saturdays) from July 31;
- Varadero: 1x weekly (Mondays) from August 2.
Additional flights and routes may be added in the coming weeks pending consumer demand.
As reported, the airline recently received a CAD100 million Canadian dollar (USD81.2 million) loan from the Canadian federal government to provide COVID-19 customer refunds. This is in addition to CAD348 million (USD282.5 million) in liquidity made available to Sunwing through the Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) to protect jobs at the airline.
