WestJet adds two new Caribbean destinations; no clipping of snowbird wings seen
TORONTO - WestJet Airlines Ltd. (TSX:WJA) - defying worries about high jet-fuel costs - is adding new winter sun destinations.
Meanwhile, a travel industry group predicted Wednesday that Canadian snowbirds will hold fast to their southward migration pattern.
A week after Air Canada announced winter capacity reductions and 2,000 job cuts, WestJet said it will initiate non-stop service to Bridgetown in Barbados and La Romana the Dominican Republic.
WestJet said its "enhanced winter schedule" will also include new service to Cancun and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico from various cities across Canada, along with increased frequency between Toronto and Jamaica, St. Lucia and the Dominican Republic.
Domestically, WestJet is introducing service from Calgary to Kamloops, B.C., and Grande Prairie, Alta.
The announcement "demonstrates that we remain committed to a strategic plan of expansion and growth both domestically and elsewhere," stated Bob Cummings, the Calgary-based airline's marketing vice-president.
Also Wednesday, the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada predicted that Canadians will not be discouraged by high gasoline prices and soaring airline fares from vacationing in warmer climes.
"Just the thought of last year's particularly long and cruel winter is quite enough to prompt Canada's snowbirds to begin looking for 'early bird specials' for next season's out-of-country insurance coverage," stated association president Juliann Martyniuk.
"And though record high gas prices are a major concern, the fact they are some 20 per cent cheaper in the U.S., where snowbirds will spend the winter months, may ease that concern a little," Martyniuk said.
"So will the continuing strength of the Canadian dollar, which continues to trade at near parity with the U.S. dollar, a fact that fortifies Canadians' purchasing power in the U.S. sunbelt."
The travel insurance group cites a Conference Board of Canada projection that Canadians over 55 years travelling for at least a month will make more than 750,000 out-of-country trips during the 2008-2009 winter tourism season, up by 73 per cent since 2000.
http://travel.canoe.ca/Travel/News/2008/06/25/5980776-cp.html
Topic: WestJet adds two new Caribbean destinations; no clipping of snowbird wings seen (Read 2625 times)