MONTREAL — Air Canada is adding capacity and upgrading service from a long list of Canadian gateways, for select routes within Canada as well as routes to more than half a dozen key U.S. gateways.

The changes are scheduled to take effect starting in May and June 2019.

For transborder travel Air Canada will offer upgraded regional jet service from Toronto to Nashville, Washington Dulles and Memphis, plus it will add more frequencies from Toronto to Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Austin, TX.

These changes are part of an ongoing transformation of Air Canada Express, says Mark Galardo, Vice President, Network Planning at Air Canada.

“We are very pleased to offer customers travelling between Toronto and the cities of Nashville, Washington Dulles and Memphis an upgraded travel experience with larger and more comfortable aircraft featuring a choice of Business Class and WiFi options on all flights. We are also adding daily frequencies on our Toronto to Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Austin routes and from Montreal to Baltimore,” he added.

These enhancements are in addition to Air Canada’s recent announcement it will launch new daily flights from Montreal to Raleigh and increase capacity by deploying larger aircraft with Business Class and WiFi options on its Toronto to Raleigh and Charlotte flights.

Air Canada is also making enhancements on several of its Eastern Canadian regional routes for spring 2019, specifically its Toronto to Fredericton, Moncton, Thunder Bay and Montreal to St. John’s flights.

Aircraft on the routes will be upgraded from Air Canada Express regional aircraft to larger Air Canada Rouge A319s with inflight amenities.

Capacity will also be added between Calgary and Halifax, with A320s.

“Air Canada is upgrading key Eastern Canada routes currently operated with all-economy regional aircraft by deploying larger Air Canada Rouge jets which offer a choice of two cabins, WiFi and in-flight entertainment streamed to personal devices,” says Galardo. “We are pleased to add more travel options to and from Newfoundland and Labrador by increasing capacity on our flights to St. John’s via our Montreal hub which offers excellent connections to and from our extensive North American and global network. With our varied and flexible fleet, we are also adding capacity to our popular Calgary-Halifax seasonal flight with larger mainline Airbus A320 aircraft, with connections in Calgary conveniently linking eastern and western Canada.”

Air Canada is also boosting capacity for Vancouver Island, Northern B.C., the B.C. Interior, Saskatoon and Winnipeg with Bombardier Q-400 Next Gen aircraft.

“Air Canada is strategically enhancing the flying experience and increasing capacity this summer on key regional routes in Western Canada.  The ultra-quiet, comfortable, fuel efficient and faster Q-400 aircraft will be well-received by our customers and is larger than the regional aircraft it is replacing.  We are pleased to deploy it to more communities in Western Canada as we further strengthen our regional network to optimize all significant connections between our extensive regional and global markets,” notes Galardo. “With our varied and flexible fleet, we are also adding frequencies to our Vancouver-Anchorage and adding capacity to our Calgary-Winnipeg route with larger Airbus aircraft in response to demand.”