For an industry still hobbling towards recovery, the presentation by Lucie Guillemette, Air Canada’s Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer got the ACTA 2021 Canadian Travel Industry Summit off to a positive start Thursday.
Saying the travel industry is now in “recovery mode,” she revealed that, on one day in AUG, Air Canada welcomed over 75,000 pax. It was the airline’s best day since the start of the pandemic.
Guillemette called that milestone another step along the path towards normalizing travel in the post-pandemic era.
She shared with advisors the results of a recent Air Canada survey of its customers. A full 86 per cent of respondents indicated they were planning their next leisure flight, although corporate travel did not fare so well. According to Air Canada’s survey, only 29 per cent had plans for business travel.
Rebuilding
Hand in hand with rising demand, Guillemette explained how Air Canada is rebuilding its network nationally and globally.
The company recently made service announcements for 50 Canadian airports and more than 55 trans-border routes.
International travel is also showing signs of an encouraging return as Guillemette revealed strong leisure demand continuing for Transatlantic routes.
And she said some of Air Canada’s Sun routes are even outpacing 2019 demand.
Travel Ready Hub: Simplifying the Travel Experience
Acknowledging that a stress point for travellers in the post-pandemic environment is navigating changing government rules on travel and entry requirements, Guillemette reminded conference attendees about Air Canada’s ‘Travel Ready Hub’, launched earlier this month.
She emphasized the importance of the travel industry and trade helping customers overcome new hurdles in travel, saying, “I cannot emphasize enough how useful we believe this tool will be for our customers and agents,” as it will, “greatly simplify the travel experience.”
The ‘Travel Ready Hub,’ provides travellers with destination entry requirements and an interactive map to help prepare for upcoming trips.
Through the Hub, customers can obtain information such as necessary travel documentation, COVID-19 test requirements and country travel restrictions for any global destination.
Other features include the ability to review entry requirements for every country on their itinerary, including if they are connecting via another country or traveling with an Air Canada airline partner; informs guests on the required COVID-19 test type (molecular or antigen) for travel as well as the valid time window as necessary; as well as providing travel advice related to airport arrival times, among others.
Air Canada’s Travel Ready Hub can be found here and on the mobile version of the airline’s site.
This follows a digital tool on Air Canada’s mobile app which allows customers to scan, upload, and verify their COVID-19 test results, which Guillemette said now also extends to the check in process as Air Canada continues to expand its ‘touchless’ approach to the customer experience.
The Air Canada executive ended her remarks by acknowledging there’s a long road ahead to recovery, but that, “I am personally optimistic, encouraged and certainly welcome the growth and challenges that come with it.”
