Sunwing on Thursday apologized to passengers affected by operational difficulties due to winter storms during the holiday season, stating that “the majority of our customers have been able to enjoy their vacations with little disruption.”
Posted 12:47pm Updated 5:30pm
Brett Bundale The Canadian Press
In a joint statement, Sunwing Travel Group CEO Stephen Hunter and Sunwing Airlines President Len Corrado said they were “deeply sorry for disappointing our customers”.
“We regret that we have not achieved the level of service that Sunwing customers have come to expect,” executives said.
“We have experienced tremendous errors in implementing our response to the delays caused by the storms, the resulting disruption of which has limited our ability to reposition aircraft and crews at other airports to mitigate the delays. »
Hundreds of passengers were affected by Sunwing delays, which began to pile up when the company began canceling flights due to weather conditions on December 22.
Some customers have been stuck in tropical destinations for days amid a spate of cancellations, winter storms and an outage of the airline’s digital communications service.
The company says it has completed all recovery flights related to holiday disruptions and has an action plan in place to resolve technical issues, including flight warning notifications and communication flow with airlines.
The airline also continues to be “actively working to return baggage to owners as soon as possible.”
After the airline apologized, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a Twitter post he spoke to the company on Thursday.
“What happened is totally unacceptable,” he wrote.
“Canadians expect airlines to keep them informed and manage disruptions. I will continue to work with Sunwing to ensure this doesn’t happen again. »
Meanwhile, Sunwing indicated that the severe disruption to its holiday flight schedule was similar to that faced by several major airlines during their first post-pandemic peak season in the spring and summer.
“We have planned our largest flight schedule since pre-pandemic and have made significant investments to mitigate potential risks associated with meeting high travel demand during the peak winter season,” stated MM. Hunter and Corrado in their press release.
“We developed a workable plan of action, which unfortunately could not be implemented due to a confluence of factors. »
The airline announced Dec. 29 that it would immediately suspend operations at Saskatchewan’s two largest airports through Feb. 3.
“With the winter season in full swing, we have also reduced our capacity in January to restore our highest operating standards while eliminating disruption to our customers,” the statement continued.
The airline added that it is actively accepting any legitimate claims for compensation and will fully comply with Canadian passenger protection regulations.