[CubaNews] CANADA: Sunwing grounds direct flights to Cuba

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sunwing grounds direct flights to Cuba print this article
Last updated at 11:33 PM on 20/08/07  

A Sunwing jet prepares to load passengers at the Sydney airport, Monday
afternoon. The airline has recently dropped flights from Sydney to Holguin,
Cuba. Scott McIntyre - Cape Breton Post

Sunwing grounds direct flights to Cuba 
Airline will continue to offer its popular domestic charters to Toronto

WES STEWART
The Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY - Sydney got the short straw in Sunwing Vacations choice of cities it
will service with direct flights to vacation spots this winter.

Sydney provided the least amount of revenue and proved to be the toughest
sell for Sunwing Airlines and will be dropped after only one season of
offering direct flights from Sydney airport to Holguin, Cuba, said Bob Sime,
the Atlantic Canada director of Sunwing Airlines.

The airline will continue to offer its popular domestic charters to Toronto
twice weekly - Tuesdays and Thursdays - until mid-October.

"They've done very well, we've had good demand on them so we are very
encouraged on that series," Sime said. "We will be definitely looking to try
to (bring) that back again next summer."

But he admitted their flights out of Sydney to Holguin was a battle.

"It was not enough to discourage us, but in terms to how it compared to
other gateways throughout Atlantic Canada, we found the market to be less
than what we expected."

Although that's not the only reason.

"We have 10 aircraft and we have to fight for our share of them when
competing against Ontario and Western Canada."

They found Cape Breton travellers to be very price conscious, noting there
were just as many sales from islanders driving to Halifax to get the better
price on a winter vacation.

Sime said the company had thought since this was the only flight offering
non-stop direct service to Cuba from Sydney, that there was enough of a
market to carry the day.

"To give the convenience to the Sydney market, the reality was we were
competing with the Halifax market from a price point of view," he said.

There are 30 flights a week out of Halifax with air carriers offering
tremendous selections on flights to the Caribbean, he added.

Sime said it was a tough decision "because you try and develop the market
and you want to be dependable in the market but it was a very late booking
market and a price sensitive market and that kind of made it difficult to
make a return visit."

Sunwing Vacations was looking for 189 people, give or take, every week for
six weeks in a row to go to Holguin. They weren't there, Sime said.

"We were getting half that."



wstewart@xxxxxxxxxx



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