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Today, the Canadian Government announced new restrictions in Canada’s fight against COVID-19 that has implications for Caribbean and Mexican destinations (you can see the full release here). Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Air Transat have all agreed to suspend operations to this region beginning Sunday, January 31st, 2021 until April 30th. The airlines are working with passengers to rebook their travel and some airlines like WestJet will continue to operate flights northbound (flying empty to the Caribbean/Mexico and return with with passengers) for two weeks after January 31st.
This new development comes just days after new testing requirements put in place by the United States, which requires all international arrivals into the country to have been tested within 72 hours of departure (you can read more about those measures here).
In addition to testing prior to departure, passengers will also have to submit to being tested on arrival (PCR Testing) into Canada and that international flights must arrive at one of four airports – Toronto, Montreal, Calgary or Vancouver. This also applies to private/business and charter flights operating internationally. The Canadian Government is hopeful that this layered approach will reduce the risk of importing new variants of COVID-19 especially as experts predict that a highly contagious strain of the virus will be the dominant strain by early March.
This puts a further damper on international travel to the region in what is typically a moderate to busy travel season as Canadians typically try to escape the harsh winter weather in favour of warmer locales for vacation or for Spring Break. Passengers in any of these locations should reach out to their respective airline as it relates to flight status and to make changes.
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