Grab yourself a coffee and catch up on today’s news in brief. It is packed with the latest deals, updates from the industry and everything you need to know in bite-size pieces.
Air Canada Non-Stop Brisbane-Vancouver back
Air Canada is once again providing Queenslanders with the unrivalled comfort and convenience of the only non-stop Boeing 787 Dreamliner services between Brisbane and Vancouver. Four services a week are now operating from Queensland’s capital to the award-winning Vancouver International Airport (YVR), from where travellers can seamlessly connect with Air Canada’s extensive North American network. The airline plans to increase frequency on the route to five flights a week in December.
Air Canada General Manager Australia and New Zealand Vic Naughton says the return of non-stop Brisbane-Vancouver services will re-establish YVR as the most efficient and friendly year-round North American gateway for Queensland’s business and leisure travellers.
Accor deal adds nine Mercure hotels
The momentum behind Accor’s popular Mercure brand in Australia continues with the Group adding nine Mercure hotels to its collection, following Accor’s landmark hotel management portfolio agreement with Salter Brothers with an industry-leading link to ESG outcomes. With the acquisition of the Travelodge portfolio by Salter Brothers now complete, a total of 10 hotels have joined Accor’s portfolio, including nine Mercure hotels and an ibis Styles property in Sydney’s CBD. The addition of these nine Mercure hotels grows the Mercure brand from 44 properties in Australia to 53, making Mercure the largest and fastest growing global midscale brand in Australia.
International Rail new services
Australia’s world-wide rail travel booking service, International Rail has emerged from the Covid-inspired travel industry downturn with a new state of the art booking platform and a full team of customer support experts. The long-standing, widely recognised Melbourne-based rail experts, who have been operating special rail services for 17 years, have launched a new platform which connects directly to Rail Europe’s new ERA rail aggregation solution – opening live bookings to the majority of European railways, including Eurostar, Trenitalia, DB Bahn, SNCF and many more.
The company’s wide range of rail passes, including Eurail and Swiss passes, are now offered as mobile passes that can be downloaded to a customer’s device. International Rail fully supports the new booking system by phone and email with its team of Australian-based rail specialists – all of whom have returned to the business post-Covid.
