VANCOUVER — Air Canada will be ramping up its international network out of Vancouver next year when it launches new services to Paris and Zurich in June.

The airline will also start year-round flights to Melbourne. All flights will be available for purchase starting Sept. 6.

Moreover, Air Canada is increasing its nonstop Delhi flights from Vancouver that resume Oct. 14, with up to five times weekly service for the 2017/2018 season, and increasing its London-Heathrow service with twice-daily flights for summer 2018.

“We continue to strategically broaden our international network from our Vancouver hub with the addition of two new, non-stop international services to Europe in 2018, more year-round flights to Australia, and additional flights to Delhi and London Heathrow. With the launch of flights to Paris and Zurich, Air Canada will fly non-stop from YVR to five European destinations next summer, offering excellent options for travellers from BC and the North American west coast to Europe, and as well as for European visitors and beyond to western Canada and the Pacific Northwest,” said Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines at Air Canada.

Smith also noted that Melbourne is Air Canada’s third Australian destination, and that all new flights from YVR (Paris, Zurich and Melbourne) will be operated with Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Air Canada’s Boeing 787 Dreamliners feature three cabins of service with enhanced definition individual on-demand personal entertainment offering a wide range of movies, short films, TV programs and audio selections at every seat throughout the aircraft.

Craig Richmond, President and CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority, also added: “Just one of these new connections would have been big news, but to be able to announce three major new services in one day is really exciting, and a true testament to the work Air Canada is doing to grow their transpacific hub here at YVR. These new flights will open up exciting opportunities for travellers to connect to and from Europe, Australia and beyond. I would like to thank our long-standing partner Air Canada for continuing to bring these exciting new services to YVR.”

All new routes are timed to optimize connectivity at Air Canada’s Vancouver hub to and from the airline’s extensive network across North America. The new Vancouver-Zurich flights will connect to and from destinations in Europe, Africa and India with Star Alliance partner Swiss International Air Lines. All Australia flights are timed to connect to and from Adelaide, Canberra, Perth and to Tasmania with codeshare partner Virgin Australia.