MONTREAL — With the 737 Max 8’s return date still unknown, Air Canada has announced it intends to remove 737 Max flying from its schedule until at least July 1 and has issued an outline of its plans for all impacted routes effective until the end of April.
The airline says it has adjusted its schedule through to April 30 to cover 98% of its planned flying. Air Canada was expecting six new aircraft in March and April.
Air Canada says it is now updating its April and May schedule to further optimize its fleet and re-accommodate customers.
Scroll to the bottom of this story to see the list of schedule changes.
“The Boeing 737 MAX accounted for 6% of Air Canada’s total flying, but there is a domino effect from removing the 737s from our fleet that impacts the schedule and ultimately will impact some customers. We have been working very hard to minimize that impact,” said Lucie Guillemette, Air Canada’s Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.
She adds: “To bring certainty to our schedule for our customers when booking and travelling, we are revising our schedule until July and we have taken several steps to continue delivering substantially all of our planned capacity through our global network.
“Customers who have travel plans between now and July can be reassured that we will keep them informed every step of the way as we revise our schedule. We have a deep global network and many partner airlines to provide solutions so serving our customers and minimizing any disruption is our first priority.
“We remain committed to delivering the same safe, reliable transportation customers expect from Air Canada. Customers can continue to book and travel on Air Canada with full confidence.”
To mitigate the impact of the 737 Max’s grounding Air Canada has been substituting different aircraft on the aircraft’s routes, including flying routes with similar-sized or larger aircraft.
To help provide this replacement flying, the carrier has extended leases for aircraft which were scheduled to exit the fleet.
Air Canada is also accelerating the in-take of recently acquired A321 aircraft from WOW Airlines into its fleet and has hired other carriers to provide immediate extra capacity. Air Transat has been chartered on a temporary basis to operate one daily frequency between Vancouver and Montreal beginning March 20 until March 31.
Air Canada has also leased an aircraft from Air Transat from April 1 to April 30 in order to operate the Montreal to Cancun route.
Other strategies include schedule changes and, in a small number of cases, route suspensions.
Route suspensions include flights from Halifax and St. John’s to London Heathrow. Passengers on these routes are being re-accommodated through Toronto and Montreal and Air Canada says it “remains committed to these routes and will resume service as soon as possible”.
Other suspensions include seasonal flights from Vancouver to Kona, Lihue and Calgary-Palm Springs, with passengers re-accommodated on other routings.
Here’s a detailed look at impacted routes:
| Route | Route Changes |
|---|---|
| Halifax (YHZ) to London-Heathrow (LHR) | Temporary route suspension until April 30 |
| St. John’s (YYT) to London-Heathrow (LHR) | Temporary route suspension until April 30 |
| Toronto (YYZ) to London-Heathrow (LHR) | Morning departure from Toronto re-timed to evening departure with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner |
| Toronto (YYZ) to Vancouver (YVR) | Three daily flights consolidated onto one larger Boeing 777-300ER, for a new total of nine to ten daily flights |
| Toronto (YYZ) to Edmonton (YEG) | One daily flight cancelled with larger Airbus A330 operating one flight, and most remaining flights on Airbus A319/A320 aircraft, for a total of six to seven daily flights |
| Toronto (YYZ) to New York-LaGuardia (LGA) | Most flights now operating with Embraer E190 |
| Toronto (YYZ) to Seattle (SEA) | Morning flight from Seattle re-timed to depart late evening |
| Toronto (YYZ) to San Francisco (SFO) | Fourth daily flight cancelled with larger Airbus A321 operating one of three remaining daily flights |
| Toronto (YYZ) to Saint Maarten (SXM) | Two weekly flights continue to operate, now with larger Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER |
| Montreal (YUL) to Cancun, Mexico (CUN) | Operated by Air Transat aircraft April 1-30 |
| Montreal (YUL) to Vancouver (YVR) | One daily flight operated by Air Transat aircraft March 20-31; in April, two daily flights consolidated onto one larger Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, for a new total of four daily flights |
| Montreal (YUL) to Edmonton (YEG) | Two daily flights continue to operate, now with Airbus A319/320, with one daily flight between April 16 and 30 re-timed to depart early morning |
| Montreal (YUL) to San Francisco (SFO) | Second daily flight cancelled, now operates with one daily Airbus A320 |
| Montreal (YUL) to Los Angeles (LAX) | Two daily flights continue to operate with Airbus A320, with morning flight from Los Angeles re-timed to a late evening departure. |
| Montreal (YUL) to Fort-de-France, Martinique (FDF) | Three weekly flights continue to operate, now with Air Canada Rouge Airbus A319 |
| Montreal (YUL) to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe (PTP) | Three weekly flights continue to operate, now with Air Canada Rouge Airbus A319 |
| Vancouver (YVR) to Calgary (YYC) | One daily flight cancelled, one daily flight now operated with Bombardier CRJ-900, for a new total of ten to eleven daily flights |
| Vancouver (YVR) to Cancun, Mexico (CUN) | Four weekly flights continue to operate, now with larger Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER |
| Vancouver (YVR) to Ixtapa, Mexico (ZIH) | Two weekly flights continue to operate, now with larger Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER |
| Vancouver (YVR) to Lihue, Hawaii (LIH) | Seasonal flight ended early in March |
| Vancouver (YVR) to Honolulu (HNL) | Second daily flight cancelled, now operates once daily with larger Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner |
| Vancouver (YVR) to Kahului, Hawaii (OGG) | Second daily flight cancelled, now operates once daily with larger Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER |
| Calgary (YYC) to Cancun, Mexico (CUN) | Three weekly flights continue to operate, now with larger Boeing 767-300ER |
| Calgary (YYC) to Kahului, Hawaii (OGG) | Four weekly flights continue to operate, now with larger Boeing 767-300ER |
| Calgary (YYC) to Palm Springs (PSP) | Seasonal flights ending early – flights on April 2, 3 & 22 continue to operate with Airbus A319 |
