Air Canada reports busiest day since start of pandemic
Posted April 18, 2022 2:17 pm.
Many Canadians have avoided air travel during the pandemic, but if this Easter weekend is any indication, people are becoming more comfortable boarding planes again.
Air Canada reports on Good Friday, it had its first 100,000-plus passenger day since March 2020.
“During the pandemic, passenger loads fell as low as 2,175 on April 23, 2020, as global air traffic ground to a virtual halt,” reads a statement from the airline.
“In 2019, prior to the pandemic, Air Canada carried on average nearly 150,000 people daily and its single-day, passenger-load record was 187,000 customers on August 16, 2019.”
On April 1, the federal government lifted its requirement of a negative COVID-19 test to board a flight into Canada. It now only conducts random PCR tests and requires travellers to use the ArriveCAN app before entering the country.
Related: Tourism industry expected to boom as pre-arrival tests dropped for vaccinated
When the change was announced last month, Canada’s other major airline, WestJet, said it was preparing for an “immediate and dramatic” uptick in demand.
“Our view is that the desire to travel has remained throughout COVID, but it hasn’t translated into booking demand because of the restrictions that have been imposed on the industry,” said WestJet chief commercial officer John Weatherill in a Mar. 17 interview.
He added the company saw a dramatic jump in bookings after the government lifted other COVID measures, such as a mandatory self-isolation requirement for unvaccinated children under 12 returning to Canada.
With files from Michael Ranger and The Canadian Press
