Leisure Carrier To Operate Select U.S. Routes From Vancouver And Calgary

Air Canada's leisure carrier subsidiary, Air Canada rouge is expanding to Western Canada to serve a number of predominantly leisure markets from Vancouver and Calgary to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Anchorage. Flights on these routes, currently operated by Air Canada, will be converted to Air Canada rouge service beginning this spring, as will flights to San Diego from Toronto.

In addition, the airline announced that it will introduce new seasonal non-stop service operated by Air Canada rouge between Vancouver and Phoenix beginning December 17, 2014. Existing service from Calgary and Toronto to Phoenix will also be converted to Air Canada rouge. Flights and optional Air Canada Vacations packages are available for purchase at aircanada.com and through travel agents.
 
"We are very excited to bring Air Canada rouge to Western Canada and launch new seasonal service between Vancouver and Phoenix. The expansion of our leisure carrier to Vancouver and Calgary, in tandem with Air Canada's mainline fleet renewal, is a key element of our strategy for sustainable, profitable growth at both airlines," said Ben Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. "California and the U.S. Southwest are favorite vacation destinations for our Western Canada customers and Anchorage is an important port of call offered with Air Canada Vacations cruise packages. Air Canada rouge is best suited to compete more cost effectively in these markets where there is both a high leisure travel demand and low-cost competition.
 
"We will continue to evaluate future market opportunities as new aircraft are introduced into the mainline fleet and existing aircraft are released for operation by Air Canada rouge as market demand warrants. Since its launch in July 2013, we have successfully deployed Air Canada rouge to serve Caribbean, European and select sun destinations in the United States. We look forward to offering customers in Western Canada a full range of products and services offered by both airlines, each suited to specific markets on a route-by-route basis," said Smith.
 
With the addition of these 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 54 routes, including new service this summer to Barcelona, Dublin, Lisbon, Manchester, Nice and Rome.

FMI: www.aircanada.com/en/about/rouge.html