At Routesonline we've decided to take a look back at the news breaking the same week in previous years and revisit it one or two years later to see what’s happened since we released the news.
The latest schedule update from the airline includes the introduction of new non-stop services from Calgary to Terrace and Nanaimo; from Vancouver to Comox; from Toronto to Austin and from Montreal to Mexico City. Air Canada is also switching its existing Toronto-Kelowna and Toronto-Sydney, NS services to Air Canada rouge due to the high volumes of leisure traffic on the routes, while Air Canada rouge will also introduce a new domestic seasonal link between Calgary and Halifax.
We've all sat and contemplated airports and their IATA codes for long enough, and some of their origins have remained a mystery. Why is Chicago O’Hare Airport ‘ORD’ and Orlando Airport ‘MCO’? At Routesonline we have done some digging and found out some of the answers to those burning questions.
Air Transat have released their timetable for summer 2015 to include a direct service from Montréal to Budapest, and from St. John’s (Newfoundland and Labrador) to London.
Canada has long been a seasonal market from Dublin, but this winter the airport will boast two new year-round scheduled services to Toronto. Irish carrier Aer Lingus will operate Dublin-Toronto up to four times per week while Air Canada’s leisure brand Air Canada rouge will fly three times per week between the two cities.
The total traffic for the four days is an increase of 36 per cent over the same period at the end of Eid Al Fitr in 2013, when 133,007 passengers took an Etihad Airways flight.
WestJet Encore's move eastward is part of a strategic plan to “continue to liberate Canadians in smaller communities from the high cost of air travel,” continuing WestJet’s own pioneering developments in the larger Canadian markets through its 18-year history. The first step of this Eastern Encore expansion saw the introduction of flights to Ontario from June 27, 2014.
The airline, like many other low-cost carriers, has been actively studying the launch of long-haul services across the Atlantic and this route is seen as WestJet testing the water before expanding its activities further.
The Star Alliance member will offer a three times weekly service on the route during the winter 2014/2015 schedule serving Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 2, also known as The Queen's Terminal, where it will take up residency from June 18, 2014.
Air Canada says it 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.
In the first change to the Philippine - Canada Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) since December 2008, the two sides have agreed to increase the frequency entitlement for each side from seven flights a week to 14. Fifth freedom rights were also increased from four to five per week.
The initial tentative schedule shows the aircraft will operate twice daily on the Toronto - Halifax route from May 23, 2014 through to May 25, 2014 and then on various dates through to the end of June 2014. Alongside this domestic link, Air Canada also plans to use the aircraft on its flights from Toronto to Zurich (from May 25, 2014 to July 14, 2014) and London (from July 2, 2014 to July 13, 2014).
The airline currently utilises a 136-seat Boeing 737-700 on its daily Toronto - Québec City route but will replace this with a 78-seat Dash 8-Q400NextGen when Encore takes over the operation of the route from March 15, 2015.
The introduction of flights to Rio de Janeiro has been on Air Canada’s radar for a while, but with the loss of Brazil’s largest carrier TAM Airlines as an alliance partner from April this year, it has become a higher priority for the Star Alliance member.
Canadian leisure carrier Air Canada rouge is to expand its operations into Western Canada to serve a number of predominantly leisure markets from Vancouver and Calgary to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Anchorage.
