Montreal-based Air Canada formerly used Toronto as its primary long-haul gateway, but recently has been adding numerous intercontinental and transborder routes from its secondary hubs in Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary. Furthermore, as a founding Star Alliance member, Air Canada has incorporated joint-venture agreements with several Star Alliance member airlines such as Lufthansa Group, United, and Air China, among others.
The 787 Dreamliner has been a game-changer aircraft for Air Canada as it has allowed the carrier to launch numerous, “thin” routes such as Toronto to New Delhi or Vancouver to Melbourne, which were previously unviable on its higher-cost, larger-gauge aircraft like the 777. It also allowed the airline to successfully transition many of its “mainline” routes to its lower-cost subsidiary, Air Canada Rouge, which allows it to operate routes like Montreal to Algiers, Toronto to Honolulu, or Vancouver to Osaka.
Routes
In 2017 alone, Air Canada has added the following routes, and/or will operate the following in 2018:
From Toronto:
- Mumbai
- Berlin (Rouge)
- Memphis
- San Antonio
- Savannah
- Bucharest (Rouge)
- Porto (Rouge)
- Zagreb (Rouge)
- Buenos Aires (split from Santiago tag-on)
- Shannon
- Omaha
- Providence
- Reykjavik
From Vancouver:
- Dallas/Ft. Worth
- Nagoya (Rouge)
- Frankfurt
- London Gatwick (Rouge)
- Denver
- Melbourne
- Paris
- Zurich
- Sacramento
From Montreal:
- Casablanca
- Shanghai
- Taipei
- Marseille (Rouge)
- Algiers (Rouge)
- Dallas/Ft. Worth
- Washington Dulles
- Tel Aviv
- Tokyo Narita (starts in 2018)
- Bucharest (Rouge)
- Lisbon (Rouge)
- Lima (Rouge)
- Phoenix (Rouge)
- St. Lucia (Rouge)
- Baltimore
- Pittsburgh
- Dublin
From Edmonton:
- San Francisco
Fleet
Air Canada operates a very diverse fleet comprised of Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, and Embraer aircraft among its mainline fleet. It does not offer First Class but does offer a Business class with Premium Economy. Its largest-gauge aircraft is the 777-300ER, which has two configurations: high-density (450 seats) and medium-density (400 seats). These are used to fly routes such as Montreal to Paris, Vancouver to London Heathrow, Beijing and Hong Kong, and Toronto to Shanghai, Santiago, Tokyo Haneda, Sao Paulo, Frankfurt, and Beijing.
Air Canada also has a few 777-200LR frames which operate its longest routes, including Toronto to Mumbai, Sydney to Vancouver, and Toronto to Hong Kong.
In coming years, Air Canada will receive 59 737-MAXs, including 47 of the MAX-8 and 12 of the MAX-9, with an option of 18 additional variants. It also has 45 Bombardier C-Series, including the CS300, on order, with 30 options, and 7 787-9s on order.
Terminal Maps
