Sebring

http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases...648502503.html

Air Canada Expands its Global Network with New and Enhanced Services to Europe, South America and Africa for Summer 2018 Français

New destinations include Bucharest, Zagreb and Porto

Non-stop Air Canada Rouge seasonal services start in June to Bucharest from Toronto and Montreal; to Zagreb and Porto from Toronto; and to Lisbon from Montreal
Non-stop service between Casablanca and Montreal transfers to Air Canada mainline, beginning June 1, 2018
Non-stop, Air Canada year-round Toronto-Buenos Aires service begins May 2, 2018, and a Montreal-Lima seasonal service starting in December has been upgraded to year-round

MONTREAL, Sept. 28, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada today announced new non-stop services to begin next summer from Toronto and Montreal, including three new destinations in its global network – Bucharest, Zagreb and Porto – and a new route between Montreal and Lisbon.

Air Canada Expands its Global Network with New and Enhanced Services to Europe, South America and Africa for Summer 2018 (CNW Group/Air Canada)
Air Canada Expands its Global Network with New and Enhanced Services to Europe, South America and Africa for Summer 2018 (CNW Group/Air Canada)
In addition, the airline will enhance existing year-round service between Montreal and Casablanca by transferring the route to Air Canada mainline from Air Canada Rouge.

Air Canada will also be starting non-stop service to Buenos Aires from Toronto, which today is served through a one-stop service via Santiago. Air Canada will continue to service Santiago with its non-stop service from Toronto. Its Montreal-Lima service will be extended to year-round.

"Today's announcement further solidifies Air Canada's position as a leading global carrier. With these new services, Air Canada becomes the only North American airline flying to Romania and we are now offering the most weekly seats and frequencies from Canada to Portugal and Croatia," said Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines at Air Canada. "Moreover, with our modernized fleet we are able to enhance our existing services, by deploying our Boeing 787 Dreamliner on a new non-stop route to Buenos Aires. Together, these new and enhanced services will provide customers greater comfort and choice, as well as the ability to conveniently connect onward through our extensive North American and International network, on North America's Best Airline as rated by Skytrax."

Air Canada has already announced several new non-stop international services beginning in June for Summer 2018. These include Vancouver-Paris, Vancouver-Zurich, Toronto-Shannon, Montreal-Tokyo-Narita and Montreal-Dublin. As well, a new Vancouver-Melbourne service beginning in December, 2017, originally planned as seasonal, will operate year-round effective June, 2018.

The new services announced today are now on sale*. This includes special introductory, all-inclusive round-trip fares such as: $899 for Bucharest-Toronto/Montreal and Zagreb-Toronto; $799 for Toronto-Porto and Montreal-Lisbon; $622 for Montreal-Lima; and $1,228 for Toronto-Buenos Aires.

yyznomad

Nice!

Much EZEier now.

Sebring

Yes, splitting Buenos Aires and Santiago into separate routes is the biggest change here for many, since a lot of the rest looks like bringing more Rouge misery for Air Transat. AC and CP before it has been serving the Buenos Aires-Santiago stub for so long, and there was a time when it was really the most practical way for people to travel between those two cities on any airline.

flybit

WOW this is great news! The stupidity of going from Chile ends!

Non-stop, Air Canada year-round Toronto-Buenos Aires service begins May 2, 2018

Adam Smith

Nice to see YYZ-EZE direct. Previously when evaluating my Antarctic trip it was a tradeoff between UA's crappy hard product but good journey time via IAH vs AC's better hard product but inconvenience of the SCL stop.

The Lev

Interesting to see Casablanca going mainline.

SparseFlyer

A330 as AC808.

I have no doubt they'll be filling the back at decent yields. No idea how they'll sell 27J seats.

NOIR

I guess I was right a while ago regarding ZAG as a potential new route. Bravo AC.

patty canuck

Was happy to see the new routes especially YUL-DUB, until I looked at the aircraft: the new 737 MAX 8 - the config on board for a TATL being "domestic like" business and THIRTY INCH PITCHES IN ECONOMY On a new plane of all things and smaller pitches for longer flights and mainline too.

I would not be happy for a plane like that on a 6+ hour flight in econ. So much for choice on a WB mainline with "space" to DUB with only YYZ-DUB because YYZ-YVR (rouge) also does not do it.

rafi2k6

Not surprised. The market is tremendous. RAM has been making a killing on it for years.

J will be full. There are big business ties on both ends and a very affluent ex-pat community living in the Greater Montreal Area.

Cargo will also be a great money maker on this flight. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes off near MTOW.

Stranger

Not totally convinced...

The RAM business typically is to gather traffic from a bunch of other places, and sell very cheap. Sure that fills planes. But that's not AC's line of business.

quantumofforce

Still no SIN

Stranger

Surprised? Why?

rafi2k6

That's a good point.

I think you have to take into consideration point of sale and "home advantage" and the depth of the home market's pockets...

tracon

That's exactly what AC's line of business is. AC has said so themselves.
AC also wants to increase it's share of connecting traffic.