TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - September 17, 2014) - This morning saw the arrival of the first international rescue flight at Los Cabos International Airport, bringing with it much needed food, water and medical supplies. The plane was the first repatriation service to land at the airport following its closure since Sunday when category 3, tropical storm Odile blasted the Mexican Baja California peninsula with gusts of wind of up to 125mph and over six hours of heavy rain. At 4:05 PM local time, the plane departed towards Vancouver bringing with it 190 passengers (including 5 infants) forced to abandon their vacation after the impact of the tropical storm, which included at least 35 Canadians who had booked with another carrier. The second service, currently on the ground at Cabo San Lucas airport awaiting the arrival of remaining customers, will depart for Toronto later this evening and is also expected to return home at full capacity, also repatriating Canadians who had not originally booked with the airline.
Earlier today, the airline had outlined its plan to bring all of its 306 customers stranded in Los Cabos home on two dedicated rescue flights; one destined for Toronto and the other to Vancouver. Both flights are being operated on Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 189 passenger seats.
Mark Williams, President for Sunwing Airlines commented, "Following tropical storm Odile hitting Los Cabos and Cabos San Lucas on Sunday evening, our team has been working tirelessly to enable the swift repatriation of our customers currently stranded there. While communications have been difficult, we have managed to maintain regular contact with our personnel in resort who have confirmed that all our passengers are safe and secure. We are extremely pleased to be the first carrier to have been able to arrange international rescue flights and bring in much needed food, water, and medical supplies. Along with ensuring our own customers' travel home safely, we aim to run both services at full capacity to repatriate as many other Canadians currently in the area as we are able to."
All of Sunwing Airlines' outbound services from Canada to Los Cabos have been cancelled until the end of the month. Regular travel advisory updates are being posted on www.sunwing.ca, www.flysunwing.ca and www.signaturevacations.com. As an additional gesture the airline will also be offering compensation to customers whose vacations were curtailed by this storm.
About Sunwing Airlines
Sunwing Airlines has been offering affordable flights since 2005. Operating convenient direct flights from 34 different Canadian gateways to over 30 vacation destinations, savvy travellers choose Sunwing because of the airline's unbeatable prices, reliability, and award winning service. Sunwing's modern fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircrafts have helped the airline achieve an outstanding performance record for on-time departures, as well as increased fuel efficiency, contributing to the carrier's low fares.
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Media Enquiries
For all media enquiries, please contact:
Rachel Goldrick
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Sunwing Travel Group
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