Industry groups demand Ottawa lift COVID-19 travel testing requirements

At a news conference at the Calgary airport hosted by the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable, WestJet communications vice-president Richard Bartrem said the carrier’s flight volume remains at half of its 2019 level of roughly 700 trips per day. The federal government announced earlier this month that as of Feb. 28 double-vaccinated air and land travellers no longer need to present a negative molecular test result, such as a PCR test, before departure for Canada. Wendy Paradis, president of the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies, said in an interview rapid tests remain an “unnecessary barrier” to family and business travel.