TORONTO, March 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Yesterday, Sunwing announced that the company was shifting their efforts to focus solely on repatriating customers who are currently in destination. As a result, the carrier has temporarily suspended all southbound flights from March 17th until April 9th to concentrate resources on returning customers home safely. Yesterday, the first rescue flights departed, repatriating over 500 Canadians from countries that had announced closures of their borders. By the end of today, over 11,000 customers will be brought home to Canada. The travel company is committed to ensuring all its guests are brought safely home. Customers are returning home on their scheduled flights, with any remaining seats being used to accommodate other Sunwing customers wanting to return earlier at no additional cost. Sunwing Experiences representatives are situated in resorts across the travel company’s destinations and are available 24/7 to support customers during this time.

President of Sunwing Airlines, Mark Williams, commented, “This unprecedented situation has had a drastic impact on our business during a short space of time. While we have communicated a temporary suspension of our southbound flights up until April 10th, at this time we cannot confirm when commercial southern flight operations will resume. That is why Sunwing was forced to communicate layoffs to our flight and cabin crew members yesterday evening. Our pilots and flight attendants play a crucial role in our operations and this was not a decision that we took lightly. Once we have confirmation on a return to service date of our southbound flights, we fully intend to recall our flight and cabin crew members. These are incredibly difficult decisions to make. But the circumstances we face are dire and we must take action to ensure the long-term viability of our business.

“Given the severe impact COVID-19 has had on our business, and the efforts we are putting in place to bring thousands of Canadians home, we are actively seeking government support. As an organization, we have never sought government support previously. But these are exceptional circumstances. Our customers need us and we’re doing everything we can to support them.”

About Sunwing

The largest integrated travel company in North America, Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from over 33 airports across Canada to more than 45 popular sun destinations across the U.S.A., Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. This scale enables Sunwing to offer customers exclusive deals at top-rated resorts in the most popular vacation destinations as well as cruise packages and seasonal domestic flight service. Sunwing is consistently voted the top leisure airline by travel agents and is the perennial winner of the Consumer Choice Award. Customers can look forward to starting their vacation off with award-winning inflight service, which features a complimentary glass of sparkling wine*, non-alcoholic beverage service; together with a buy on board menu of light meals and snacks, including kids’ choices, the World Famous Original Smoked Meat from the iconic Montreal-based Schwartz’s Deli along with delicious menu options inspired by Food Network Canada Celebrity Chef, Lynn Crawford. Sunwing customers also benefit from the assistance of the company’s own knowledgeable destination representatives, who greet them upon arrival and support them throughout their vacation journey. Sunwing supports the communities where it operates through the Sunwing Foundation, a charitable initiative focused on the support and development of youth and humanitarian aid. Sunwing matches all donations the Foundation receives through its Spare Change Program on board Sunwing Airlines, no administrative fees are collected and 100% of the proceeds go to charity.

*Service may be unavailable on select flights

For all media enquiries, please contact:

Rachel Goldrick

Senior Corporate Communications Manager

Sunwing Vacations

1-800-387-5602 | media@sunwing.ca

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