Flights from Regina to Puerto Vallarta back on schedule following civil unrest

After Monday’s cancellations, travellers boarded a WestJet flight to Puerto Vallarta with confidence Tuesday. Jacob Carr reports.

For Regina couple Jackie Hall and Blaine Quiring, booking their flight to Puerto Vallarta for Tuesday happened to be the right decision, as all flights originally scheduled to and from Puerto Vallarta were back up and running.

This after all of Monday’s flights to the sunny destination were cancelled by both WestJet and Air Canada, due to civil unrest in the region.

The couple said what they have seen and heard online from Puerto Vallarta puts them at ease about travelling there.

“I was watching some videos last night. There are guys walking around taking videos, yesterday morning and everything was calm and cool and collected. So, we’re going to give [it] a shot,” Quiring said.

James Bogusz, Regina Airport Authority president and CEO, is also happy that things have gone back to normal after the brief delay, with Mexico being a literal hotspot destination for YQR travelers during the winter months.

“When it comes to destinations, Cancun is the number one in the winter in terms of passenger volume, but it’s followed very closely by Puerto Vallarta. And this is certainly impactful for many vacationers. I’m Just happy for southern Saskatchewan, they can get back on that warm holiday,” he said.

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Regarding travellers that had to extend their stay in Mexico, both major Canadian airlines offered statements to CTV news.

In WestJet’s statement, the airline said its priority is reaccommodating guests who were originally scheduled to return Feb. 22 and Feb. 23.

“As all carriers have limited or no available seats, we have added additional flights to accommodate. Any remaining available seats will be offered for sale on our website,” the statement read.

In Air Canada’s statement, the airline said it is operating three return flights to Puerto Vallarta on Tuesday, from Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver

“For the Toronto and Montreal flights we used wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliners. These are larger than the aircraft that normally operate these routes and provided 258 extra seats to bring back some of the approximately 1,000 customers whose flights were cancelled on Sunday and Monday due to the unrest,” the statement read.

“Our intent is to continue operating flights with larger aircraft over the coming days until affected customers have all had the opportunity to travel, although we will monitor and adjust our capacity as required.”

As for those flights heading to Puerto Vallarta going forward, Bogusz expects it to be business as usual, barring any unforeseen circumstances.