Air Canada Extends Calgary – Tokyo to Year Round Operation

Star Alliance member Air Canada has confirmed that it will continue to operate its Calgary - Tokyo Narita non-stop link during the Northern Winter 2012/2013 schedule as it enhances the route to a year round operation to support increasing demand. It revealed in November last year that it intended to upgrade the seasonal route but it has now received the necessary approvals from Japanese regulatory authorities to upgrade the seasonal flight.

Last summer, Air Canada operated three flights per week between Calgary and Tokyo Narita, complementing its flights to the Japanese capital from Toronto and Vancouver. From April 27, 2012 when the service resumes, it will increase the frequency of the route to five times weekly, but will revert back to the three times weekly schedule for the Winter.

"Following our announcement last fall that we were increasing our summer flights to five times weekly, we are pleased to extend our non-stop flights from Calgary to Tokyo Narita year-round, reflecting solid demand to and from Canada's energy centre," said Ben Smith, Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer, Air Canada.

"Since we launched this route in March 2010, demand has been strong from business and leisure travelers as well as freight forwarders. This is a great example of how the Calgary business community, the Calgary Airport Authority, Travel Alberta and our travel partners understand that our industry is a significant catalyst for economic growth and have all come together to enable sustainable, year-round, direct links to Asia," he added.

An estimated 33,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in 2011. The figures show the clear need for additional frequencies as just 43 per cent of these passengers took advantage of the direct service, with a further 42 per cent connecting on Air Canada flights via Vancouver. This is the only direct scheduled link from Calgary to Asia, a market of around 320,000 O&D passengers a clear opportunity for additional traffic, as Ben Smith noted. “Tokyo Narita's international gateway offers a multitude of convenient flight options to Japan, China, Korea and beyond,” he said.