TRAVELHotNews.com Magazine

LAN LAUNCHES IN CANADA

Pablo Yunis, VP North/Central America and Caribbean and Luigi Colizzi, Director of Sales Canada

LAN Airlines ushers in inagural flight to Toronto; hosts reception to celebrate
Charmaine Pang
Yesterday evening at the Atlantis complex at Ontario Place in downtown Toronto, LAN Airlines hosted a reception to celebrate their inaugural flight into Canada, which touched down at 12:45 p.m. yesterday, and left at 4:35 p.m. from Lester B. Pearson Airport in Toronto. About 200 members of the travel industry attended the reception. LAN Airlines’ Luigi Colizzi, Director of Sales Canada, introduced Pablo Yunis, Vice President, North/Central America and Caribbean. Yunis expressed his satisfaction that the airline was able to expand to Canada, given the difficult climate for travel and for the airline industry in general. LAN will celebrate its 80th anniversary this year, and in those decades The company’s recent sales have been healthy, with an increase of sales year over year and profitable results. Last year saw record sales of $3.5 billion and a 7.4 per cent increase in profitability for the first quarter of 2008. Keep reading for more details. [Full text and pictures]

BERLIN SAYS CANADIAN MARKET LOOKS "EXCELLENT"

Berlin Tourism Marketing and Berlin Airports host industry breakfast to discuss plans to merge 3 airports into 1; Berlin receives 30,924 Canadian arrivals in 2007
Lisa Raffaele

Anne Dollendorf, Hanns P. Nerger, Kirsten Schmidt, Christian Spaak, Vanessa Gromer

This morning Hanns Peter Nerger, President/CEO, Berlin Tourism Marketing, in cooperation with Berlin Airports hosted a travel industry breakfast to discuss the latest tourism developments in Berlin and the future BBI airport at Toronto’s Sutton Place Hotel. Part of a yearly visit to Canada, the Berlin team took the opportunity while in Toronto to meet with agents, tour operators and media to discuss Berlin’s highlights for 2008-2009 and the status of BBI airport, an in-progress construction project aiming at drawing the current three airports (Schönefeld southeast of Berlin, Tegel and Tempelhof) in the Berlin-Brandenburg region into one. [Full text and pictures]

TPI ADDS REGIONAL MANAGERS

Penny Martin is new Eastern Canada Regional Manager; Christal Bauer is new Western Canada Regional Manager

Christal Bauer

Penny Martin

Travel Professionals International (TPI) has added Penny Martin and Christal Bauer to the newly created positions of regional manager. Martin will assume the role of TPI’s Eastern Canada Regional Manager, and Bauer will assume the role of TPI’s Western Canada Regional Manager, effective Monday September 8, 2008. Martin comes to TPI with 30 years of travel-industry experience, including managerial positions at CAA and Sears Travel, respectively, and her most recent posting as Director of Product and Industry Relations for Transat Distribution Canada Inc. Bauer brings over 20 years of experience in the travel industry to TPI. Most recently, she held the position of National Business Development Manager – Canada with Ensemble Travel Group. Martin will be based in Toronto and Bauer in Maple Ridge, B.C. [Full text and pictures]

FLYGLOBESPAN LOOKS TO SUMMER

Enhanced summer 2009 schedule features new and increased flights to UK, Ireland

Colourful Dublin

Flyglobespan recently announced its summer 2009 schedule, now on sale. With seasonal direct flights to six destinations in the UK and Ireland for travel between June 2009 and September 2009, Flyglobespan offers service from three Canadian gateways: Hamilton, Vancouver and Calgary. Highlights of the new 2009 schedule include increased service from Hamilton to Dublin with two flights per week, enhanced frequency from Vancouver to Manchester with twice weekly flights and a brand new weekly flight from Calgary to Dublin beginning June 3, 2009. Keep reading for more details. [Full text and pictures]

SUNWING EXPANDS MORE

Sunwing expands in YYZ; YUL reservation hours extended

Due to its ongoing growth, Sunwing Vacations advises agents of its newly expanded reservation department in Toronto. Expanded airline, operations and groups departments will be taking over the space vacated by reservations personnel. The Toronto team has recently moved to new offices located at 170 Attwell Drive, 2nd Floor, Toronto, ON M9W 5Z5. Phone numbers will remain the same, but there are new fax numbers as follows: Reservations can be reached at 416-798-8550; Customer Service at 416-798-8760. The Montreal reservations department is now open Monday through Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Thursday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Montreal reservations team also handles overflow calls during peak periods. [Full text and pictures]

ACTA BOARD LAUNCHES NEW PLAN

ACTA Board Chair Jacqueline Jamieson

ACTA to launch new plan for membership, details to come soon; retains commitment to protect travel consumers
With 100 per cent attendance from across Canada, the newly elected Board of Directors of the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA) agreed “in principle” this week to a new plan for its membership that will be launched this fall. ACTA Board Chair Jacqueline Jamieson of Absolute Travel Services Inc. in Vancouver, B.C. said the new plan evolved from a two-day board meeting and planning session held in Winnipeg August 25 & 26. “I am confident our membership will be enthused with the benefits and opportunities included in our new plan,” Jamieson said. “As a board, our toughest job will be to keep it a secret until we launch the details,” she said. [Full text and pictures]

AIR TRANSAT ADDS SEATS TO EUROPE

Over 130,000 seats added to major European destinations for summer 2009

Air Transat this morning announced its increased capacity of over 130,000 seats to its major European destinations for the 2009 summer season. The added capacity includes:
-Three additional weekly frequencies from Montreal to Paris
-One additional weekly frequency from Montreal to Rome
-Five additional weekly frequencies from Toronto to Manchester
-Five additional weekly frequencies from Toronto to London
-Three additional weekly frequencies from Toronto to Glasgow
-Three additional weekly frequencies from Toronto to Rome
-One additional weekly frequency from Vancouver to London
-One additional weekly frequency from Vancouver to Paris
Keep reading for full details. [Full text and pictures]