Air Canada on Hurricane Earl watch...Tourists still flocking to Mexico...
Lots going on down in the U.S. regarding Hurricane Earl. Latest word was there was a mandatory evacuation along parts of the U.S. coast, particularly the outer banks of North Carolina. The storm appears to have done fairly minimal damage to the Caribbean, although more storms appear to be gathering in the middle of the Atlantic in what's looking like a nasty hurricane season.
So far, there appears little impact on Air Canada. I just had an email from Air Canada's Peter Fitzpatrick, and here's what he had to say.
"As you know, this is a highly changeable situation. We are monitoring the weather off the Atlantic coast and in Eastern Canada very closely due to reports on Hurricane Earl. As of this morning, the hurricane had not affected operations; no flights have been cancelled. We will continue to monitor the situation closely, and keep customers informed on aircanada.com and customers travelling to Eastern Canada or the U.S. North East should be sure to consult our website prior to going to the airport."Toronto doesn't look to be affected, but with so many flights from Toronto to Halifax, New York, Washington D.C. and other points east there's always the potential for disruptions...
Plenty of problems in Mexico these days, including the brazen attack on a bar frequented by locals Tuesday in the resort city of Cancun. But Mexico tourism officials insist tourist numbers are up. Way up.
The Mexico Tourism Board this week said the number of international tourists visiting the country by plane increased 35 percent in June compared to the same month in 2009. MTB officials say nearly 820,000 people from destinations worldwide visited Mexico in June, up from 605,435 in June 2009.
That's a huge increase, and quite surprising given the world economic environment.
Canadian and U.S. government officials have cautioned Canadians about travelling to certain parts of Mexico, notably near the U.S. border. But most tourist spots, including places Cabo San Lucas and, Tuesday's event notwithstanding, Cancun, don't appear to have been affected.
LEARN THE AIRLINES BIZCathay Pacific Airlines is offering high school students in the GTA a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look into the airline industry with a 7-week course.
The after school hours program runs once a week and successful applicants to the program will get a chance to learn about everything that goes on in the industry directly from people working in the airline and travel industries. Pilots, flight attendants, airport staff and others will provide insight into their jobs and tips on how to follow their footsteps.
The program has been offered before in Hong Kong and has run successfully in Vancouver twice. This is the first time Cathay is offering the program to Toronto students.The I Can Fly program in Toronto will run from October to November and Grade 11 high school students can submit their application online at http://cathaypacific.ca/icanfly.
Application deadline is Sept 7.
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