EDMONTON — Today marks the official launch of Swoop’s two new inaugural flights from Edmonton to Palm Springs and Orlando.

Twice weekly nonstop service to Palm Springs, California, and weekly Orlando (Sanford), Florida kick off today, Dec. 17. Palm Springs operates on Mondays and Thursdays while Orlando runs weekly on Fridays.

The launch comes on the heels of the return of Canada’s advisory against all non-essential travel earlier this week. The advisory, which had previously been lifted in October after being in place for more than 20 months, will remain in place for at least four weeks, at which point it will be reassessed.

Like many others in the travel industry, Swoop, as part of the WestJet Group, is advocating for the preservation of the measures in place for fully vaccinated international air travel.

“Since the onset of the pandemic, air travel has become the most tested and protected consumer activity in Canada,” said Charles Duncan, President of Swoop. “With travellers being tested an average of twice throughout their international journey and as the only fully-vaccinated air travel sector in the world, we believe that vaccinations and testing are the right path forward for safe international air travel.”

Throughout the pandemic, Swoop has safely flown more than 800,000 travellers with a zero-tolerance mask policy and mandatory vaccination requirements for both employees and air travellers. The airline also recently announced a new testing partnership with Azova, a digital health technology platform, to allow travellers to adhere to testing requirements with approved at-home testing kits and in-person testing options for travel.