Multiple airlines are relaunching international routes to popular tourism locations. 

Companies are planning to expand their summer 2022 international schedule to places like Europe, Asia, Africa, and The Middle East. 

Flair Airlines, an Alberta-based company, has a plan of expanding its fleet of aircraft and is now planning to increase its travel. 

Samantha McAdams, a Flair Airlines flight Attendant, says that they are expanding rapidly in Canada, the US, and Mexico. With more destinations to come in the next few months. 

McAdams says the company is taking flight to more and more North American travel spots. 

“Recently we've started announcing Anchorage, Alaska. We're doing Nashville, San Francisco, Palm Springs, Burbank, among a whole bunch of other ones on the East Coast and in Florida. We're doing Chicago and New York fairly soon as well. That'll be flying out of Toronto. So that's super exciting.” 

McAdams says international travel has been really slow and that the slump in travel had to do with travel restrictions as well as stress that travelers may encounter with heightened restrictions.  Looking to the future, as soon as March, McAdams has seen booking for international travel skyrocket. 

"Most flights have been in Canada, and I think people are still just a little apprehensive of going to the States just due to the PCR tests. You can go and get your test but there's almost no guarantee that you'll get it in time for your flights with some of the providers down in the States. But with Canada dropping the requirement, I think we're going to see a huge uptake really soon.” 

McAdams says that she understands the stress people have as well as the confusion. She has also noticed that many people looking to travel are unsure of what is required. She has even been a victim of that confusion herself. 

“The biggest thing I would always recommend is to check the government websites, especially for the state or province that you're going into. That's going to be your biggest way to look at what they require.” 

She urges people to not throw away their vaccine passports as well. Just because things are easing here does not mean that it’s the same everywhere else in the world. There isn’t an exact requirements list but McAdams advises people to research if they are required to do an antigen or PCR test in certain destinations. 

One thing that is not going away is masks, considering that it is a Transport Canada requirement and McAdams does not see that mandate ending anytime soon. Another stress factor is traveling in bigger groups. 

“Families, if they're traveling with younger children, whether they're vaccinated or not, if one kid tests positive, the entire family has to stay back. And that can throw a huge wrench into anyone's plans.” 

McAdams says that not only are the people that are traveling slightly stressed, but she underlines that flight attendants are praying they don’t get sick.  

“The amount of hand sanitizer and multivitamins that I have invested in, in the past little while is absolutely atrocious.” 

Being healthy and safe is her number one priority at this time, especially for a job that she truly loves and started doing because of COVID. 

Right now, it seems like Airdronians are ready to pack up and travel the world again. 

One thing McAdams suggests people do when planning to travel again is to always have a backup plan, in case your vacation extends longer than expected. She also thinks Airdronians need to step out of their bubbles and look local. 

“In my firm belief, people should travel Canada. I think that I could spend a lifetime exploring Canada and still not check everything off the boxes, let alone going overseas or even to the States or Mexico.” 

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