A Canadian government advisory against traveling abroad due to the Omicron variant could lead to further confusion and cancellations ahead of the key holiday travel season, the country’s second-largest carrier said on Wednesday.
The advisory comes as Canadian carriers, hard hit by last year’s slump due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had seen a rebound in travel.
Global airlines have blamed a patchwork of shifting new testing rules and restrictions for setting back international travel, even as the World Health Organization has warned against blanket travel bans over Omicron.
It is not yet clear how the advisory issued on Wednesday will affect traffic, said Andy Gibbons, vice president of government affairs at Calgary, Alberta-based WestJet Airlines, but he added: “In the travel and tourism sector, uncertainty and confusion leads to cancellations.”
Privately-held WestJet expected about two-thirds of pre-pandemic holiday traffic this year. The carrier already had some cancellations because of confusion over a government announcement in November that people arriving by air from all nations except the United States would have to take a COVID-19 test.
Earlier on Wednesday, Flair Airlines Chief Executive Stephen Jones said the privately owned carrier had seen bookings slow down for the weeks following the holiday travel season due to Omicron.
While holiday bookings “are very good,” questions remain on how travel will look during the second half of January and February, he said before the government advisory.
“We’ve certainly seen a drop-off in bookings for those months,” he said.
Still, Alberta-based Flair will grow from 12 jets to a fleet of 30 aircraft by mid-2023, a time when traffic is expected to further recover, said Jones, a former executive at European budget powerhouse Wizz Air.
Jones, who is still targeting a fleet of 50 aircraft by 2025, said it is important to reserve delivery times now for the Boeing Co 737 MAX aircraft the carrier is leasing as demand rises.
“There’s definitely a firming of interest in the MAX,” he said.
Despite turbulence from Omicron, airlines globally are looking past the pandemic to renew fleets.
Jones said he expects international travel will rebound by summer as vaccinations increase.
“I’m actually very confident that by next summer, we’re going to have a very busy and very happy bunch of leisure travelers.”
(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by David Gregorio and Peter Cooney)
