While airlines are back in business, columnist Brian Hodder notes it’s clear they aren't totally ready to resume pre-pandemic levels of service. JESHOOTS.COM photo/UnsplashWhile we are still dealing with the impact of the pandemic, we enter 2023 with hopes of a return to a somewhat normal life and a resumption of the various activities we enjoyed before the pandemic began.
An unusually stormy period in British Columbia added to the chaos and travellers were left sleeping in airports.Others were left stranded in a foreign country by Sunwing and had to wait for a week or more for rescue flights to be arranged to get them back to Canada, while the airline also cancelled in-country flights to some provinces leading to further delays.
It is too early to know what impact this will have globally and, while some countries have instituted mandatory testing for travellers from China, past experience has taught us that such measures have little effect on the spread of the virus. We will have to hope any new variants created, if any, are not too lethal to those who contract them.