When will international air travel soar again after COVID-19? - CBC.ca

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When will international air travel soar again after COVID-19? – CBC.ca

Published

3 years ago

September 12, 2021

Harry Miller

A return to a freer level of international air travel likely won’t be possible until there’s greater agreement among nations on the COVID-19 tests and vaccination documentation needed to travel abroad, experts say.

Yet a year and a half after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, it’s still not clear when such a consensus will be reached.

“Every country wants to do its own thing and they really have to get over that and get on the same page,” said Marion Joppe, a professor at the University of Guelph’s School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management.

The European Union developed a digital certificate for residents across the 27-country bloc, but it has restrictions in place for non-essential travel from many third countries due to COVID-19 concerns.

The varying border-crossing and travel restrictions imposed by nations around the world in the wake of COVID-19 have left airlines and passengers alike coping with the resulting uncertainty.

And while more people are flying abroad today than in the early days of the pandemic, passenger levels are still far below pre-pandemic levels.

A long way from 2019

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported that the world saw a 60 per cent dip in the number of passengers who flew in 2020 as compared to 2019.

In July 2021, international travel demand was down nearly three-quarters from what it was in 2019 — though the IATA says the traffic is improving across the globe.

A sign on display at Regina International Airport in May of 2021 reminds people arriving from outside of the country about the rules that were in place at the time amid COVID-19 concerns. (Mark Taylor/The Canadian Press)

In Canada, there is hope among airlines their industry will see clearer skies ahead, though the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic makes it tough to forecast exactly when.

At Air Canada, there is optimism now that new travel rules allow international visitors — at least those who are fully vaccinated — to enter the country for non-essential travel. The change took effect Sept. 7.

“We look forward to welcoming customers from around the world back on board,” Peter Fitzpatrick, a spokesperson for the airline, told CBC News via email.

Peter Fitzpatrick, an Air Canada spokesperson, says the airline has seen steep revenue declines during the pandemic on the international side of its business. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Fitzpatrick said the airline has seen steep revenue declines during the pandemic on the international side of its business — with its international passenger revenue less than one-tenth of what it was just two years ago as of the second quarter of 2021.

WestJet told CBC News that it’s “working diligently to predict the balance in demand and to support our guests’ needs” as vaccination rates rise and travel restrictions ease.

“To get to where we need to go, it’s going to take a continued focus on the safe restart of travel,” WestJet spokesperson Morgan Bell said in an email.

Montreal-based Air Transat is also hoping to put more people in planes after operating no commercial flights for six months earlier this year.

Air Transat self service check-in kiosks are seen at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport in Montreal, on July 31, 2020. The company went six months without operating commercial flights this year. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)

“We’re very pleased we were able to resume operations … and move into the restart phase where our activities can gradually expand,” Air Transat president and CEO Annick Guérard said in a statement accompanying the release of the company’s latest quarterly results.

“Particularly as we look forward to a winter season that promises to be much busier than the last one.”

The airline, however, does not expect its operations to return to pre-pandemic levels before 2023.

Toronto’s Porter Airlines is preparing to restart service to four U.S. cities later this month after a lengthy suspension of flights due to pandemic-related restrictions. The company expects its flights to reach 60 per cent of its 2019 capacity by early October. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

The Toronto-based Porter Airlines is preparing to restart service to four U.S. cities later this month after an 18-month suspension of flights.

“We believe demand for these routes will gradually return as flights are reintroduced across our network,” Porter spokesperson Brad Cicero told CBC News via email.

“Flights are returning in phases, growing to approximately 60 per cent of 2019 capacity by Oct. 6.”

How to move forward

The use of vaccine passports is one possible tool to encourage international travel.

The federal government has said it “recognizes that proof of vaccination credentials will support the re-opening of societies and economies.”

Joseph Ali, associate director for global programs at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics in Baltimore, believes support for such vaccine documentation is growing — though it may not be “strictly required” for all travellers in the immediate future.

A worker waits for arrivals at the COVID-19 testing centre in Terminal 3 at Toronto’s Pearson airport in February 2021. Some experts believe implementing vaccine passports will encourage international travel. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

“Until there is sufficient supply and distribution of vaccines globally … it won’t be appropriate to require vaccination passports for all passengers,” Ali said in an email.

Such a system would also depend on nations recognizing the vaccines being used outside their borders, as well as on the evolving circumstances of the pandemic.

“Vaccine passport systems won’t definitively solve all COVID-related travel challenges, but they may help get us closer to doing things that are important to many,” said Ali.

What about Ottawa?

Canada’s federal government, prior to the election call, made arguments for such a system of proof-of-vaccination documentation for international travel, with the government stating plans to deliver a version by early fall.

Each federal party has its own idea of how to safely reopen for international travel.

The Conservatives, according to their platform, would require “rapid testing at all border entry points and airports” for all travellers, vaccinated and unvaccinated, without exception. The party says it also intends to help rebuild the country’s airline sector.

The Liberals, meanwhile, say travellers would have to get vaccinated if they wanted to get on a commercial flight.

The New Democrats told CBC News that Leader Jagmeet Singh supports Canada developing a national vaccine passport enabling travel around Canada and abroad.

The Greens did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A British Airways captain walks through the International arrivals area of Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport last month. Co-ordination of passport systems among nations will be crucial to the plan’s success, some travel experts say. (Peter Nicholls/Reuters)

Arvind Magesan, a University of Calgary economics professor, said it’s imperative to develop co-ordination among nations on vaccine passports for obvious reasons — as there’s “no point in getting on a plane” if your vaccine isn’t recognized by the place you’re trying to fly to.

“That’s a really hard problem, trying to co-ordinate policy across different countries,” Magesan said in an interview.

A different future?

Some observers think the pandemic may spur permanent shifts in airline travel patterns.

The industry may see fewer work trips in future, according to Marc-David Seidel, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business.

A airport airline limo driver waits for customers in a nearly empty Toronto Pearson International Airport during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto in April of last year. Some people believe business travel will not return to pre-pandemic levels. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Seidel said people have become accustomed to using technology to conduct business in new ways and the advantages of not having to travel are clear to them.

“Do I really want to have to fly halfway around the world to have a four-hour meeting?” said Seidel, who sees the current moment as an opportunity to rethink what kinds of travel are truly necessary.

The University of Guelph’s Joppe, on the other hand, believes business travel will eventually recover.

“People want to travel and our whole lifestyle has become one of mobility,” said Joppe.

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GTA gas prices to jump 14 cents a litre – Toronto Sun

Published

3 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Harry Miller

Gas prices have not been this high since August 2022

Published Apr 17, 2024 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 1 minute read

HST is applied to the cumulative amount at the pump, including the actual gasoline price, the provincial gasoline tax, the federal excise tax and the carbon tax. Photo by Postmedia Network /file photo

There’s a price shocker coming at the pumps.

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Gas in Ontario, including the GTA, will go up 14 cents a litre overnight for customers filling up on Thursday, says Dan McTeague, the president of Canadians for Affordable Energy.

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“So going from $1.65.9 (per litre) going to $1.79.9,” said McTeague adding the increase will affect the entire province except for northwestern Ontario, which gets its prices from the prairies market.

“That’s the highest level since August, 2022, almost two years ago,” he added.

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McTeague said the reason for the price hike is that stations are switching over to summer-blend gasoline.

“Around this time of year prices go up to reflect the new blend of gasoline, which is more expensive to make,” he explained. “Butane is used in the winter, for gasoline, whereas in the summer it’s alkyaltes. Alkyaltes are extremely expensive.”

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“In the winter you want your ignition to start quickly in cold temperatures, you uses volatile butane. You take that out in the summer. That’s a big difference. This is going to be around for awhile and it could get higher,” McTeague said.

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Wildfire sparked by TC Energy pipeline rupture under control – Yahoo Canada Finance

Published

4 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Harry Miller

CALGARY — A wildfire in west-central Alberta that was sparked by a natural gas pipeline rupture is under control, but an investigation into what caused the pipeline to break could take months or even years.

As of Wednesday morning, there was very little fire activity left in Yellowhead County, where a 10-hectare fire burned on Tuesday about 40 kilometres northwest of Edson.

“But for it to be considered extinguished, we’re going to have to hot spot,” said Caroline Charbonneau, area information co-ordinator with Alberta Forestry and Parks.

“That means we’ll have to dig into the ground, look and feel for hot spots, and then douse it with water. And that could take several days.”

The fire on Tuesday, which occurred as much of Alberta is dealing with extremely dry early spring conditions, was sparked when a natural gas pipeline owned by TC Energy Corp. ruptured.

There were no injuries, and the fire was never a threat to any surrounding communities. The affected pipeline segment was isolated and shut in and there is no more gas leaking from the pipeline.

The Canada Energy Regulator had inspectors on site Wednesday to monitor the company’s response and the Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.

According to CER, there have been 12 natural gas pipeline ruptures in Canada since 2008, and Tuesday’s incident near Edson was the first rupture on that particular pipeline within that time period.

The 36-inch diameter pipe that ruptured is part of TC Energy’s NGTL pipeline system, which transports natural gas from Alberta and northeast B.C. to domestic and export markets. The system spans 24,631 kilometres and connects with TC Energy’s Canadian Mainline system, Foothills system and other third-party pipelines.

The NGTL pipeline system is like a web made up of different lines that have been developed in stages.

In 2022, there was a rupture on a separate part of the system that resulted in an explosion and fire near Fox Creek, Alta. There were no injuries.

A TSB investigation into that incident took more than 14 months, and concluded that the pipeline ruptured due to reduced pipe wall strength caused by external corrosion.

While the primary risk of a crude oil pipeline leak is an oil spill that harms the local ecosystem, natural gas pipeline ruptures can and do result in fires or explosions, said Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, a U.S.-based non-profit organization.

“The chances are extremely high that a molecule of natural gas that enters a pipeline will go through that pipeline without a failure. Pipelines are quite safe, and when you look at incident rates compared to other modes of transportation like rail or truck, they are much less likely to have a failure,” Caram said.

“But what you don’t get a sense of by looking at the risks of pipelines in that way is how catastrophic a failure can be when it does happen.”

According to the TSB, there were 19 recorded incidences of fires related to pipelines in Canada between 2012 and 2022.

The TSB’s most recent report on pipeline transportation safety in Canada states that in 2022 there were 100 companies transporting either oil or gas or both in the federally regulated pipeline system, which includes approximately 19,950 km of oil pipelines and approximately 48,700 km of natural gas pipelines.

That year, there were 67 pipeline transportation accidents and incidents on federally regulated pipeline systems, according to the report.

That number was well below the 10-year average of 112 occurrences, and was also the lowest number of occurrences since 2019, when 52 pipeline accidents or incidents were recorded by the TSB.

The TSB defines a pipeline “accident” as an incident that results in a person being injured or killed, a fire or explosion, or significant damage to the pipeline affecting its operation.

Less severe pipeline events that involve the uncontrolled release of a commodity or a precautionary or emergency shutdown are classified by the TSB as “incidents.”

There have been no fatal accidents directly resulting from the operation of a federally regulated pipeline system since the inception of the TSB in 1990.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

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Pearson airport gold heist: Police announce 9 arrests – CTV News Toronto

Published

5 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Harry Miller

Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.

At a news conference Wednesday on the one-year anniversary of the heist, police confirmed that five suspects were arrested and four others are facing charges in connection with the largest gold theft in Canadian history.

Police said the suspects face a total of 19 charges and Canada-wide warrants have been issued for the arrest of three of the suspects who have not yet been apprehended. All of the suspects arrested in connection with the heist have been released on bail, police confirmed in a news release issued Wednesday.

Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said the heist was “carefully planned” by a “well-organized group of criminals.”

“This story is a sensational one and one which probably, we jokingly say, belongs in a Netflix series,” he said.

Police said 6,600 gold bars were stolen from Air Canada’s cargo facility on the evening of April 17, 2023 by a suspect who arrived at the warehouse in a five-tonne delivery truck.

The gold, along with about $2.5 million in foreign currency, had been shipped to Toronto from Zurich in the hull of an Air Canada plane and was offloaded to an Air Canada cargo facility shortly after the flight landed at Pearson Airport that afternoon.

Police allege that the suspect came into possession of the stolen gold and bank notes after presenting Air Canada personnel with a fraudulent airway bill.

“The airway bill was for a legitimate shipment of seafood that was picked up the day before,” Det.-Sgt. Mike Mavity, the major case manager for the joint investigation, dubbed Project 24K, told reporters on Wednesday.

“This duplicate airway bill was printed off from a printer within Air Canada cargo.”

A suspect and suspect vehicle are pictured during a news conference about a gold heist at Perason Airport. (Handout /Peel Police)Mavity said a forklift arrived a short time later and loaded the stolen gold and currency into the back of the truck. The suspect then drove off with the gold bars, which were estimated to be worth about $20 million.

Brinks Canada, which was hired to provide security and logistics services for the transportation of the shipment, showed up at the facility a few hours later to pick up the items, police said.

According to investigators, when Air Canada employees tried to locate the container, they realized it was missing and quickly launched an internal investigation. Police were notified about the stolen goods shortly before 3 a.m. the following day, Mavity said.

Air Canada launches probe

An exhaustive investigation followed, police said, with officers reviewing video surveillance footage from 225 businesses and residences in an effort to track the path of the truck, which has since been recovered.

Mavity said that last summer, they identified 25-year-old Durante King-McLean as the driver of the truck but were unable to locate him.

In September 2023, Mavity said King-McLean was stopped in rental vehicle by Pennsylvania State Police near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

“After a brief foot chase, he was detained and troopers located 65 illegal firearms in the vehicle,” Mavity said Wednesday.

According to Mavity, investigators believe that the stolen gold was melted down and sold and the proceeds were used to purchase illegal guns for a firearms trafficking operation.

He said members of Project 24K have been liaising with the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Bureau (ATF) with respect to this aspect of the investigation.

Speaking at the news conference on Wednesday, a representative from the ATF said the law enforcement agency believes the 65 guns seized during the arrest of King-McLean were bound for Canada.

While King-McLean is currently in custody in the United States, he is now wanted on multiple charges in connection with the gold theft.

“We are alleging that some individuals who participated in this gold theft are also involved in aspects of this firearms trafficking,” Mavity added.

Gold taken during a heist at Pearson airport is shown being loaded into the back of the suspect’s truck in this image taken from surveillance footage released by police. (Peel Regional Police)Officers in Peel Region executed 37 search warrants in connection with Project 24K and police said only small quantity of the gold was recovered. Six gold bracelets, worth about $89,000, were seized, jewelry that police believe was made out of some of the gold that was stolen. Police said $434,000 in Canadian currency was also seized during the investigation. Officers believe that money was obtained through the sale of some of the stolen gold.

Two “debt lists” were found by investigators at separate locations during the investigation, police said.

“A common term in drug trafficking investigations, we believe these lists actually show where the money was distributed when the gold was sold by the suspects,” Mavity said.

He said the names on both lists are “consistent” and police are trying to identify all of those identified.

Six pure gold bracelets worth an estimated $89,000 were recovered as part of an investigation into a gold heist at Toronto Pearson airport and are displayed in this image from Peel police. (Handout)

‘They needed people inside Air Canada’

Police said one current Air Canada employee, identified as 54-year-old Brampton resident Parmpal Sidhu, has been charged with theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. A Canada-wide warrant has been issued 31-year-old Simran Preet Panesar, who police said resigned from his position as a manager at Air Canada back in the summer.

“He has been known to us since early on in the investigation. He actually led a tour for Peel Regional Police before we knew his involvement,” Mavity said Wednesday.

He added that police have an idea where Panesar may be but did not elaborate on a possible location.

Mavity said he believes the suspects needed employees on the inside to carry out the heist.

“Because of their position within Air Canada, in my opinion, yeah they needed people inside Air Canada to facilitate this theft,” he said.A map showing the alleged movements of vehicles during a gold heist at Toronto Pearson Airport is displayed during a news conference Wednesday November 17, 2024. (Handout /Peel police)