The federal government has announced Canada’s major airlines will suspend service to all Caribbean destinations and Mexico starting this Sunday until April 30 as more infectious variants of COVID-19 continue to spread.
All international passenger flights must land at only four airports in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary.
The Calgary Airport Authority said it is working with the federal government and airline partners to implement the changes.
“The pandemic has had a devastating impact on our airport and there will be further significant business impacts arising from these new requirements,” said Reid Fiest, Calgary Airport Authority external communications and media relations manager.
On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also announced a new mandatory PCR testing requirement at airports for people returning to Canada. Trudeau said while these travellers wait for this COVID-19 test result, they’ll be forced to quarantine for up to three days at a designated hotel – on their own dime.
Story continues below advertisement
Trudeau added that the cost for this is “expected to be more than $2,000.”
“Foreign travel, international travel, travel of any kind is just something you don’t want to do; it’s not the time for it,” Calgary-based aviation industry analyst Rick Erickson said.
“They put some very very tight restrictions on what already was a fairly difficult environment to ensure that Canadians – it’s not as though it’s impossible, it’s not as though you can’t come back to the country, but, boy, there are some very large fences that we hadn’t seen before.”
Erickson said suspending travel to popular sunspot destinations will be a major financial hit on Canada’s airline industry, particularly because the suspension is happening at a time when Canadians typically travel to warmer climates.
“If it’s -20C, those sunspot destinations are really attractive. A lot of Canadians are in that pattern, a lot of Canadians have property abroad,” he said.
“If you want to travel, it’s still possible but you better have deep pockets, you better be able to live with uncertainty, you better be able to understand risk and the like, and it’s going to be very, very difficult to go travel abroad.”
Story continues below advertisement
Fiest said the Calgary Airport Authority will continue to advocate for federal government assistance for the air transportation industry amid the latest changes.
“To date, there has been no meaningful aviation sector support despite many of the most recent government policies having a significant adverse impact of Canada’s airports and airlines,” Fiest said.
Erickson believes the suspension of sunspot destination flights signals the federal government is prepared to announce an assistance package for Canada’s airline industry.
“There’s got to be a tradeoff; I believe that tradeoff is finally some kind of financial compensation package and I’m listening with open ears as to what that’s going to be because we definitely want to ensure that Canadian carriers coming through this pandemic are on some kind of solid footing,” he said.
On Friday, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said the federal government is developing an assistance package for Canadian airlines, airports and the aerospace industry, but did not provide specifics.
“Our government understands that a strong air sector is vital for Canada’s economy and the well-being of Canadians,” Alghabra said.
Story continues below advertisement
“With passenger levels still down almost 90 per cent, airlines have been forced to take drastic measures to remain viable. The sector cannot respond to these challenges on its own.”
The new measures are aimed at discouraging travellers from taking non-essential trips outside of the country, amid numerous reports that some Canadians have been escaping the chilly winter with vacations to sunny destinations.
Cases linked to international travel account for just two per cent of COVID-19 cases in Canada. The measures come amid an uncomfortable reality about the number of travellers that are skipping quarantine measures altogether.
More than 6.3 million travellers who have entered Canada since the start of the pandemic were not required to quarantine, according to new figures Global News obtained Thursday from the Canada Border Services Agency.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
