Star Alliance member Air Canada has announced its current seasonal flights between Montréal and San Francisco will be extended to a year-round schedule beginning in November 2013 thanks to growing demand from Montreal's business and tourism communities to the air link. The flight is scheduled to be operated using an Airbus A319 and provides onward connection opportunities from Montreal’s Trudeau Airport to London, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, and Geneva, as well as Air Canada’s domestic network, including Ottawa, Québec City, and Halifax.
With the extension of its San Francisco flights on a year-round basis, in addition to its daily Los Angeles service, Air Canada is solidifying its position as the only airline offering non-stop service between Montreal and California, with up to five flights per day. In 2012 an estimated 83,000 bi-directional O&D passengers travelled on the seasonal route between Montréal and San Francisco.
"Demand for year-round Air Canada flights between Montréal and San Francisco has been strong from business and leisure travelers and we look forward to being able to maintain a year-round schedule with the support of Montreal's business and tourism communities,” said Marcel Forget, vice president network planning, Air Canada. "Both our San Francisco and Los Angeles flights have been scheduled to enable easy connections to Air Canada's extensive domestic and international network via Montréal."
Montreal Trudeau Airport is an important Air Canada hub serving more than 6.2 million of the airline's customers in 2012. Air Canada, together with regional airlines operating under the Air Canada Express banner, operates more than 100,000 flights to/from Montréal and 67 destinations: 21 destinations in Canada, 16 in the United States, 23 in the Caribbean and Mexico, and seven European gateways.
"This decision to offer the Montréal-San Francisco service all year long should not only please the Montréal community but also travellers connecting through Montréal Trudeau between Europe and the US West Coast," said James Cherry, president and chief executive officer, Aéroports de Montréal. "Clearly, we are reaping the benefit of our investments in making Montréal Trudeau a more efficient hub."
Meanwhile, Air Canada has also revealed that in response to growing customer demand it will launch daily, year-round services between Sydney, Nova Scotia and Toronto from December 18, 2013. The route will offer Sydney customers convenient, one-stop connections to Air Canada's extensive Canadian, US and international network through its Toronto hub at Lester B Pearson International Airport.
"Air Canada has been serving Sydney and Cape Breton for 71 years and we are pleased to further expand our services in response to local demand by linking the community directly with our Toronto hub to bring the world within one stop on a daily basis, year-round,” said Forget. “This service caters to the business community, the tourism market and those visiting friends and relatives.”
Air Canada will be the only airline offering daily, year-round service between Toronto and Sydney’s , John Alexander Douglas McCurdy Airport (named after a Canadian aviation pioneer who first flew the Silver Dart, holder of Canada's first pilot's license and a Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia from 1947 to 1952) providing a more convenient option for passengers to fly to Toronto-and-back from Sydney for a one-day meeting or travel beyond to destinations in the rest of Canada, the US, the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia. The flight will be operated by Jazz Aviation under the Air Canada Express brand using a 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200 regional jet.
Helen MacInnis, chief executive officer of Sydney Airport said this decision was “welcome news” for the Cape Breton community but urged locals to back the air route to safeguard its operation. “We appreciate that Air Canada has been responsive to our needs and now it is up to residents of the region to use this service in order to ensure it succeeds and is sustainable. A daily flight to Toronto will not only make it easier for people to travel for business and leisure, but also provide an economic boost for tourism and businesses in the community.”
Air Canada launched the seasonal route to Toronto in summer 2009 and has served the market continuously for the four subsequent summer schedules. WestJet also offers seasonal services using larger Next-Generation Boeing 737 equipment. In 2012 an estimated 39,000 bi-directional O&D passengers travelled on the route with Air Canada holding a 61 per cent share of this traffic. The majority of passengers in 2012 connected on the Air Canada network via Halifax, a demand that will now be better served with the year-round offering.
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