Sunwing expects to be ‘close to normal’ operations by this weekend

Sunwing Airlines Inc. expects to be back to “close to normal operations” by this weekend after a cybersecurity breach that grounded travellers and delayed flights to and from sun destinations this week.

Toronto-based leisure carrier saidLate Thursday’s statement stated that 158 flights had been affected by the network-wide system failure that began Sunday. Sunwing says that 81% of the affected flights are now complete or in progress. said.

Sunwing recommends that customers traveling over the next few weeks check their flight status prior to heading to the airport.

“We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our customers for their patience this week as we work to get back to normal,” Sunwing saidIn its statement.

Sunwing has apologized to Sunwing for its ongoing delays. saidThese are due to a data security breach at Airline Choice, its third party provider of passenger handling system.

Sunwing employees are forced to manually check in passengers even though the technology platform isn’t working. Sunwing also subcontracted aircraft from Canadian airlines like Air Transat, WestJet and Nolinor Aviation to relieve some of the airport backlog.

Customers who used Sunwing reported flight delays of up to 24 hours and long waits at airports in Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. There were also difficulties accessing information about the situation.

This report was published by The Canadian Press on April 21, 2022.