Air Canada has now begun offering flights on its brand new A220-300s months ahead of schedule.
Earlier this month, Simple Flying reported that Air Canada had announced the first routes for its new A220s in the spring of 2020. The routes designated as the airline's first on this type of aircraft were meant to be Toronto to San Jose and Montreal to Seattle. Both services were supposed to be in operation starting the 4th of May 2020.
However, Simple Flying has now learned that Air Canada will launch alternative routes using its A220s as soon as 16th of January 2020.
The new routes will be internal
Whilst the initial routes to San Jose and Seattle were meant to each operate once per day, Routes Online has found that the new January flights will now run 11 times per week on their domestic Montreal to Calgary route. This route will begin on the 16th of January, 2020, with extra services added from the 5th of March to create three daily flights.
Air Canada had previously taken the decision to launch the Toronto to San Jose route on the same day as the Montreal to Seattle route - an unusual choice for most big airlines who prefer a more staggered approach. However, it now seems that Air Canada is playing more to the status quo and it is not launching another route on the A220 aircraft on the same day.
The next service will be launched on the 19th of January 2020. This will be another domestic service from Montreal to Toronto which will operate three round-trips on Sundays between 19th January and 1st March.
The airline will also operate further domestic routes as well as certain North American routes. The following services will be launched in early March 2020:
- Montreal to Edmonton
- Montreal to New York La Guardia
- Toronto to Edmonton
- Toronto to Ottawa.
Another flight from Montreal to Winnipeg will start two daily flights on 5th April 2020.
Increased services for Air Canada
The new scheduled flights will surely come as welcome news to customers and the airline alike since Air Canada was forced toground 24 of its Boeing 737 MAX aircraftuntil at least January 2020.
The initial grounding had been set to end in August 2019 but has now been extended whilst the manufacturers get the seal ofapproval from aviation safety regulators.The grounding has seen Air Canada lose 100 daily flights as a result of being unable to fly its Boeing 737 MAX.
The latest model of Airbus is becoming a popular choice with international airlines. Air Canada's new Airbus A220s will come equipped with a spacious interior cabin, offering the latest in-flight entertainment as well as on-board WiFi. Its passengers will also be able to choose from either business class or economy class seating.
Mark Galardo, Vice President for Network Planning at Air Canada, spoke of the Airbus A220 beinga "game-changer"for Air Canada. The airline hopes that the new A220 aircraft in their fleet will help to provide more flexibility as well as creating better connections for its North American market.