Sunwing has cancelled all winter flights out of Regina effective Feb. 4, 2023.
“The cancellations will impact weekly flights from Regina to Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic with the exception of departures to Puerto Vallarta starting on Feb. 5, and the following flights scheduled for Family Day weekend departures to Puerto Vallarta on Feb. 17, and Cancun on Feb. 18 and 20,” read the release.
Sunwing claims that the cancellations are “necessary due to operational and business constraints that would prevent us from delivering the standards of service our customers in Regina both expect and deserve when travelling with Sunwing.”
Sunwing is giving passengers the option to cancel their vacation for a full refund or transfer their vacation package to same-day departures from a different airport.
“We are so disappointed,” said Regina airport president James Bogusz. “This is going to impact thousands upon thousands of customers.”
Bogusz said that travel agents were advised of the upcoming changes, but the airport hadn’t heard about the mass cancellation until Global News reached out for a comment.
“As much as it is unfortunate, we have seen them cancel service this week in other cities in Canada. I suppose, as disappointed as I may be, it maybe wasn’t that unexpected.”
In late December, Sunwing cancelled all of its Saskatchewan operations, until Feb. 3, 2023, leaving many passengers stranded down south with empty pockets.
“The delays Canadians experiences over the holidays were unacceptable and Canadians deserved better,” said Nadine Ramadan from the federal office of the Minister of Transport.
“These changes will help increase efficiency and put the onus on airlines to reimburse passengers. All options are on the table to ensure that what happened over the holidays with Sunwing does not happen again.”
The federal government said they have forces in place under the Air Passenger Protection Regulation to protect travellers from cancellations and lengthy delays.
The Saskatoon Airport said they have not yet heard of any cancellations regarding their operations with Sunwing and expect flights to resume on Feb. 3.
The airline had only returned to Saskatchewan for approximately two months before the mass cancellations began.