The airline announced Thursday it was immediately cancelling its operations through Feb. 3 at Saskatchewan’s two international airports due to extenuating circumstances. It said customers with cancelled southbound flights would receive a full refund and those who were trying to return home would receive information soon.
“This is a very irresponsible decision by Sunwing for everyone who has booked a vacation, particularly those who are currently at their destination and are uncertain how and when they will get home,” Moe said in a statement Friday.
“While airlines and air travel are regulated by the federal government, Saskatchewan’s Transportation Minister Jeremy Cockrill has been in contact with Sunwing and with federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra asking for a detailed plan of how and when passengers who travelled from Saskatchewan will get back, which is the immediate priority.
“In the days ahead, we expect Sunwing to appropriately compensate everyone who did not receive the service they purchased.”
Sunwing said in a statement Friday that it had planned to supplement seasonal demand for travel from Saskatoon and Regina with the assistance of temporary foreign pilots for the winter months.
“When foreign pilot deployment was not agreed to, we brought in sub-services to sustain our operations, however, the conditions and schedule have proven too significant,” the airline said.
“We have attempted to reposition Sunwing aircraft to support but have been unable to do so as a result of flight delays and cancellations brought on by recent weather disruptions, and heavy demand over the peak holiday period.
“We recognize that, despite our best efforts, we have failed to deliver on our customers’ expectations, and we deeply apologize for not meeting the standards of service our Saskatoon and Regina customers rightfully expect.”
The airline is still scrambling to bring hundreds of passengers home from destinations including Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after winter storms disrupted its operations over the holidays.
“Our teams continue to work through the backlogged flights in order to return our remaining customers in destination home as soon as possible, and we anticipate that most, if not all, delayed customers should return home by Jan. 2,” Sunwing said in a statement earlier Friday.
The airline said it has planned 43 recovery flights with 34 to be completed by the end of the day.
John Gradek, an aviation management lecturer at McGill University in Montreal, called the situation a “debacle” that signals a need for more government regulation of the airline industry.
Though many carriers had to cancel flights as storms, extreme cold and freezing rain gripped much of Canada in the days before Christmas, Sunwing in particular had a hard time recovering. That’s because it’s a much smaller airline, with fewer flights in and out of its destinations, Gradek said in an interview.
A carrier like WestJet or Air Canada would have several flights a day going back and forth, and therefore have more opportunity to transport passengers left in limbo by a cancellation. But Sunwing may only fly back and forth a few times a week, he said, and its main option to rescue passengers is to charter planes from other operators.
Gradek said, however, that Christmas is peak travel time, and there aren’t many empty planes waiting to be chartered.
“Mother Nature has a way of taking the biggest players in the field and wrestling them to the ground,” he said. “And this is exactly what happened.”
It could get worse for Sunwing passengers before it gets better, added Gradek. Early January is also a busy travel time and, if the weather deteriorates and forces cancellations, Sunwing could be dealing with those passengers on top of the backlog from before Christmas.
Gradek noted that the federal transport minister met with members of the air transport sector last month for a post-mortem after a summer of chaos at Canadian airports.
“He basically promised Canadians in November that we will not have a repeat performance of the summer during Christmas,” Gradek said. “And lo and behold, guess what? We’re there, and even worse.”
He said it’s time for Ottawa to look at how it can ensure airline carriers can actually deliver on the schedules they promise and sell to the public.
Valérie Glazer, a spokesperson for the federal transport minister’s office, said in a statement that the government understands delays and cancellations are frustrating for travellers during the holiday season.
“Transport Canada and our office are in contact with airlines and airports to ensure they have what they need to keep passengers safe,” she said. “The safety of passengers and crews is our top priority.”
Glazer added that the Sunwing situation is unacceptable and notes the federal government has been in contact with the airline.
“Our government will continue to monitor this situation closely to ensure that all passengers are accommodated,” said the statement.
“He’s blaming the snow right now,” Poilievre said Friday. “But there was no snow in the summer and there was chaos at our airports at that time. So what was the excuse, then? Well, he claimed that it was COVID. Well, I mean, it seems like Justin Trudeau is better at coming up with excuses than he is coming up with solutions.”
The solution, he said, is to have a federal transportation agency that holds airlines accountable.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2022.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
