Sunwing finalizes winter schedule to operate without Boeing 737 MAX 8

TORONTO, Aug. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunwing announced today that all flight services during the coming winter season will now be operated without the Boeing 737 MAX 8. The new schedule comes into effect on November 5, 2019, and runs until mid-May 2020. While the move has been prompted by the ongoing worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, the company explained that being able to offer an excellent customer experience and provide their clients with much-needed reassurance while planning their upcoming winter vacation with confidence were equally important factors in their decision.

President of Tour Operations for Sunwing, Andrew Dawson, commented, “The worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft created operational difficulties for us during the summer months when we did not have additional capacity within our fleet to replace this aircraft type. In order to maintain our customers’ vacation plans, it was necessary to contract flying with third-party carriers and make schedule changes or cancellations to over 3,000 flights.  We acknowledge the options our customers were presented with to maintain their travel plans may have caused them an inconvenience and we appreciate the understanding and flexibility shown by both our travel agent partners and our customers during this period.

Proactively revising our winter schedule will ensure that all future scheduled flying is operated entirely on Boeing 737-800s, sporting Sunwing’s familiar and distinctive orange tails, so that we can offer our customers the same exceptional value and award-winning inflight experience they have been accustomed to. With these changes, our customers should feel more confident about booking their vacations or destination weddings early and taking advantage of the best deals and Early Booking Bonuses we’ve ever offered.”

All schedule changes required to accommodate the change in aircraft type have already been made and are now live on the company’s website and reservation system, through to mid-May 2020. Should the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft become available during the course of the winter, the company will evaluate opportunities to add capacity or reintegrate them into the fleet at that time. Any customers who have been affected by these changes have been notified either directly or through their travel agent, depending on how their reservation was confirmed. 

Sunwing would like to thank their customers and travel agent partners for their loyalty and patience throughout these changes and reinforce their commitment to providing memorable vacations.    

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) 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 | [email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/SunwingVacations
https://twitter.com/SunwingVacay
https://www.instagram.com/sunwingvacations
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzjZ-lcuaqBQH7Sq0u3ru7A