MONTREAL — This past weekend was a busy one for Air Canada, which launched service between Montreal and Lima, and from Yellowknife to Vancouver.
As Montreal’s first year-round link to the southern hemisphere, flight AC1942 arrived at Lima’s Jorge Chávez International Airport on the morning of Dec. 17, complementing the airline’s existing flights from Toronto and positioning it as an “important player” in the growing market between Montreal and Latin America, said Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines at Air Canada.
“Air Canada is continuing its global expansion with the launch of Montreal-Lima, the first South American route from our Montreal hub that will offer business and leisure travellers as well as freight forwarders from Quebec and Atlantic Canada convenient access to Peru,” he added. “This concludes an exceptional year of growth out of Montreal-Trudeau with the introduction of eight new destinations.”
Next year, Air Canada will launch service to Tokyo-Narita (Japan), Dublin (Ireland), Lisbon (Portugal) and Bucharest (Romania). Smith also added that over the past five years, Air Canada has increased capacity from Montreal by 83% and added 29 new destinations.
Montreal-Lima direct service runs twice weekly and is operated by Air Canada Rouge with 282-seat Boeing 767-300ER aircraft featuring Premium Rouge and Economy class service.
A day earlier on Dec. 16, Air Canada also inaugurated Yellowknife seasonal service from Vancouver, the only nonstop flights between the two cities. The daily service is offered onboard 76-seat Bombardier CRJ-705 jet aircraft and will operate until April. Next year’s seasonal service from Vancouver will kick off on Sept. 5, 2018.
“We are pleased to now link Yellowknife to our Vancouver trans-Pacific hub, connecting seamlessly to and from our Asia and U.S. transborder networks to offer time savings and ease for both international visitors travelling to enjoy our country’s spectacular Aurora Borealis and Canada’s northern winter adventures, as well as for local residents. Our seasonal route will begin in early fall next year to meet the growing demand for travel to Canada’s Northwest Territories from Asia,” said Smith.
