2024 Mondee Canada Roadshow makes a stop in Vancouver

Airline capacity is the lifeblood of the travel industry, a point that was emphasized in a keynote address at the Mondee Canada 2024 Road Show stop in Vancouver recently.

Present at the Mondee trade mart and dinner gathering to support that outlook were reps from 10 airlines. These included Air India, Japan Airlines, Porter Airlines, Korean Air, Fiji Airways, Delta Airlines, WestJet, Qantas Airways, Oman Air and Qatar Airways.

But an equally essential life force of the travel industry are the travel advisors who work to sell that capacity. The 100 agents attending the Mondee invitation-only dinner heard both praise and advice about their roles from Yuvraj Datta, the chief commercial officer at Mondee.

He credited advisors with resilience and determination in the face of challenging business conditions over the years, dating from the days of SARS and sharp commission cuts to the more recent body blows of Covid-19. But he also advised them that many needed to make changes to their marketing operations, by embracing and learning to use social media tools.

“We may be okay today, or tomorrow, but what about the day after tomorrow? The world has changed, so are you ready for the future?” said Datta from the podium. “We are only successful when you are successful.”

Increased capacity from airline partners

Many of the airline reps present for the event had the opportunity to make presentations about their products and the latest news updates.

WestJet

For instance, WestJet confirmed an increased focus on its core western services. “We are growing our presence and network in the West,” said sales manager Leah Irvine, referring to a concentration of the airline’s fleet of B787 long haul aircraft in Calgary as an example of the more west-centric strategy.

Flights to the sun from Calgary continue to increase, with for example up to 13 per week to Cancun, up to seven per week to P.V. and up to three per week to Honolulu.

“We have to safe guard affordability for some customers and are doing so with our Ultra Basic fares,” said Irvine. “This allows some people to fly who could not do so in the past.” Restrictions include no carry-on bags permitted (checked bags only for a fee), and no ticket changes, cancellations or refunds.

Qantas

Ana Vega at Qantas described how the airline plans to introduce the Airbus A350-1000 to its international routes, including Vancouver. The new Airbus will “redefine long haul travel” with innovative features such as a well being zone, a dedicated space for movement and premium refreshments, and accessible to all passengers.

The new Qantas aircraft is being designed with more spacious cabins, with the lowest seat count of any A350-1000 in service, at just 238 seats in total. More than 40% of the seats will be allocated to premium cabins.

Porter Airlines

The Porter Airlines sales manager reviewed the airline’s remarkable growth progress, noting that 100 new Embraer E195 jets had been purchased, and that 36 of those had been delivered and put into service since Porter launched its jet operations early in 2023.

As another indicator of this new chapter for Porter, he said that staff numbers pre-Covid of 1,400 had since jumped to 3,600. He said that Porter is making fundamental changes to the competition picture in Canada, by introducing a third scheduled airline player.

One indicator of that is the fact that Porter operates more flights from Ottawa than either Air Canada or WestJet, he said. Another indicator is Porter’s work to build a terminal at Montreal’s secondary airport in Saint-Hubert, which is slated to open in the second half of 2025.

Korean Airlines

Douglas Yui, sales manager at Korean Airlines, emphasized the recently announced news that passengers from Vancouver could look forward to flying on a new Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner to Seoul/Incheon. This makes Vancouver the first North American destination to regularly offer the airline’s latest and largest widebody aircraft.

Korean Airlines currently operates 10 weekly flights between Seoul and Vancouver, with the Boeing 787-10 serving seven of these. As of Oct. 27, the number of flights on the Seoul-Vancouver route will increase to 11 weekly flights, with the 787-10 scheduled for some of those. Beginning on Dec. 1, the route will expand to a twice-daily service.

Prior to its dinner event in Vancouver/Richmond, Mondee had conducted shows in Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton. This week, the tour operator touched down in Winnipeg for another event there.

For more information, visit www.mondee.com.