Air Canada to convert more leisure routes to Air Canada rouge

Air Canada (Montreal) has announced that its leisure carrier subsidiary, Air Canada rouge (Toronto-Pearson), is expanding service to Hawaii with the introduction of new year-round nonstop flights between Toronto and Honolulu. The new route, offering the only nonstop service between Toronto and Hawaii, will begin on November 26, 2014. Flights will be operated using Air Canada rouge Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft offering a choice of two cabins with three choices of service, personal space and comfort.

In addition, Air Canada announced that existing year-round nonstop service from Vancouver to Honolulu and Maui, currently operated by Air Canada, will be converted to daily Air Canada rouge Boeing 767-300 ER service effective on November 21 and December 1, 2014, respectively.

As part of its Air Canada rouge winter schedule to Caribbean destinations, twice-weekly seasonal service from Toronto to St. Maarten, previously operated by Air Canada, will be converted to Air Canada rouge Boeing 767-300ER service effective on December 20.

Air Canada will continue to evaluate future market opportunities as new aircraft are introduced into its mainline fleet and existing aircraft are released for operation by Air Canada rouge as market demand warrants. Since the launch in July 2013 of Air Canada rouge, Air Canada has deployed its leisure carrier to a growing number of Caribbean, European and select sun destinations in the United States.

With the addition of the Hawaii and St. Maarten routes, together with its previously announced summer 2014 schedule to Europe, the Caribbean and the United States, Air Canada rouge plans to operate a total of 58 routes by next winter, including service this summer to Barcelona, Dublin, Lisbon, Manchester, Nice and Rome.

Air Canada rouge’s aircraft feature three customer comfort options: rougeTM, rouge PlusTM with preferred seating with additional legroom, and Premium rougeTM with additional space and enhanced service on the Boeing 767-300 ER and on select Airbus A319 routes. Air Canada rouge offers a unique brand of customer service designed to make every flight a memorable start and end to a wonderful vacation. Aircraft are equipped with player, a next generation in-flight entertainment system that wirelessly streams entertainment to customers’ personal electronic devices. Flights provide stylish and modern cabin interiors with new Slimline seats which have a trim profile that offers more personal space, and the ability to earn and redeem Aeroplan miles.

Air Canada rouge operates a fleet consisting of Boeing 767-300 ER and Airbus A319 aircraft transferred from Air Canada. By the end of May 2014, Air Canada rouge’s fleet will include six Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft and 18 Airbus A319 aircraft.

Air Canada’s mainline fleet renewal is ongoing with the introduction of new aircraft. In May, the airline took delivery of its first 787 Dreamliner and is scheduled to receive a total of six 787 aircraft in 2014 with the remaining 31 scheduled between 2015 and 2019. In February 2014, Air Canada took delivery of the last of five new Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft to enter its mainline fleet.