is
Canada 's
Flag Carrier Airline with its headquarters in
Montreal ,
Quebec . The airline provides scheduled and charter air transportation for passengers and cargo to over 160 destinations, vacation packages to over 90 destinations, as well as maintenance (ACTS), ground handling, and training services to other airlines. Air Canada's main base is
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport , however, its largest hub is
Toronto Pearson International Airport . Air Canada also uses
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport as a European hub and an Atlantic Canada hub,
Vancouver International Airport as its hub for Pacific operations and also uses
Calgary International Airport as a focus city. In the past Montréal International Airport was the major hub for Air Canada. Montreal's economic decline in the late 1970's and 1980's had a significant effect on the airport's traffic, as international flights shifted away from Dorval to Toronto Pearson, but now Montreal has once again become an essential hub for Air Canada and many other large airlines.
Air Canada's regional partners include
Air Canada Jazz ,
Air Labrador ,
Air Georgian , and
Central Mountain Air . There is also a premium jet charter service for corporate clients and professional sports teams called
Air Canada Jetz .
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Created as a subsidiary of
Canadian National Railway (CNR),
Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA) on
April 10 ,
1937 , and began operations using a Lockheed 10A on
September 1 ,
1937 carrying two passengers and mail from
Vancouver to
Seattle . The company was headquartered in
Winnipeg which was also the site of the national maintenance base. In 1949, federal policy dictated the headquarters move to Montreal. Later, the maintenance base also moved east. It was a significant blow to western Canada and one of many federal decisions cited in western alienation. By 1964, TCA had grown to become Canada's national airline and in 1964,
Jean Chrétien (who eventually became the
Prime Minister Of Canada from 1993 to 2004) submitted a
Private Member's Bill to change the name of the airline from Trans-Canada Airlines to Air Canada. This bill initially failed; however, it was resubmitted and passed. The name change was effective from
January 1 ,
1965 . In a late
1970s reorganization at CNR, Air Canada became an independent
Crown Corporation .
In
1987 , Air Canada was the first airline in the world to have a fleet-wide non-smoking policy
{Link without Title} . In 1989, Air Canada was completely privatised (ie. the federal government owned zero shares of the company).
Air Canada sold the
En Route Card business to
Diners Club in 1992. Air Canada is a founding member of the
Star Alliance , which was launched in May 1997. On
September 2 ,
1998 pilots for Air Canada launched the company's first pilots' strike.
At the end of 1999, the Canadian government relaxed some of the aviation regulations, aimed at facilitating a consolidation of the Canadian airline industry. In January 2000 Air Canada acquired Canada's second largest air carrier,
Canadian Airlines , subsequently merging the latter's operations into its own. As a result, it became the world's twelfth largest commercial airline.
Air Canada
Codeshares services on other Star carriers, such as
British Midland 's
Toronto to
Manchester ,
United Kingdom flight.
On
April 1 2003 , Air Canada filed for
Bankruptcy protection. Air Canada finally emerged from
Bankruptcy protection on
September 30 ,
2004 , 19 months later.
ACE Aviation Holdings is the new parent company under which the reorganized Air Canada is held.
In October 2003, Air Canada became the first airline to launch a non-stop flight between North America and India when it launched daily flights from
Toronto Pearson International Airport to
Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.
On (7810
Mile s), this was accomplished using two brand new
A340-500 s—this was the first route to Hong Kong applying A340-500 ultra long-haul aircraft.
In October 2004, the airline unveiled new in-flight service products and new aircraft livery. The new theme song, ''You and I'', is sung by
Céline Dion . On
October 31 ,
2004 , the last Air Canada
Boeing 747 flight landed in Toronto, ending more than 30 years of 747 service with the airline. The remaining 747-400s which were previously in service have been superseded by the A340-500, which themselves are due for replacement.
On
November 9 ,
2005 , Air Canada announced that it would renew its wide body fleet over several years by purchasing a mixture of Boeing
777 and
787 ''Dreamliner'' aircraft. The order included a firm order for 32 aircraft (18 777s and 14 787s) plus options for 64 more aircraft (18 777s and 46 787s), totalling 96 aircraft. The first 777s are to begin arriving in 2006 and the first 787s will begin arriving in 2010. Among the 777s to be delivered to Air Canada are freighter versions, making Air Canada a launch customer of the 777 Freighter (along with
Air France-KLM .) All of Air Canada's 777 aircraft (both -200LR and -300ER) will be powered by the
GE90-115B engine, the world's most powerful jet engine, while their 787 aircraft will be powered by the
GEnx engine.
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The order for the 777s will gradually phase out all
A340 s, including A340-300 and A340-500. In addition, the
Boeing 787 will gradually replace the current Boeing 767 and
A330-300 . Air Canada has also begun to take delivery of
Embraer 175 and
190 aircraft which will be used to expand their domestic and transborder routes. Older Airbus
A319/ /
A320 will be replaced with some of these new aircraft as delivery permits.
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Air Canada is wholly owned by
ACE Aviation Holdings and employs 29,198 staff (at January 2005).
In November 2005 Air Canada stopped serving hot meals to all economy class seats for flights within Canada and the United States. A selection of cold foods has been made available for purchase on those flights.
Also in November 2005, Air Canada removed the paint from C-GDSP (A Boeing 767-233ER, Tailfin No: 613), leaving a shiny silver fuselage. This was done in an effort to reduce fuel costs by reducing the weight of the plane, with over 300 pounds of paint being removed. However, the experiment proved unsuccessful and the plane is scheduled to be repainted to the normal livery in March 2006
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- stalled on takeoff out of Montreal-Dorval International Airport. All 118 lives were lost on board. It was the first crash of an Air Canada flight and was one of the worst air disasters in Canadian history.
- , crashed and burned on a training flight while attempting a three-engine landing at Ottawa, Ontario . All 3 crewmembers were killed. There were no passengers on the flight.
- exploded from a fuel line rupture caused by engine 4 striking the runway in Toronto, Ontario during the first landing attempt. All 109 passengers/crew were killed.
- , caught fire and burned to the ground during refuelling at Terminal 2, Toronto, Ontario . The Terminal was evacuated. There were no deaths or injuries.
- overran the runway in Toronto after a blown tire aborted the takeoff. 2 of 107 passengers/crew were killed.
- . No deaths.
- . 23 of 46 passengers/crew were killed.
- made an emergency landing in Gimli, Manitoba after running out of fuel. No deaths. See Gimli Glider
- CRJ-100 crashed on a go-around in Fredericton, New Brunswick . No deaths.
The Air Canada fleet consists of 329 of the following aircraft (as of
February 2006 ):
In March 2006, Air Canada fleet average age is 9.8 years old.
In September 2004, the airline confirmed orders for 45
Embraer 190 aircraft (delivery beginning in November) and 30 additional
Canadair Regional Jets . The long-term plan of the carrier is to have the 175s replace some of the A319s on shorter routes, allowing those older aircraft to take over numerous A320 routes. As delivery of the Embraer 190 permits, the oldest Airbus A320 will be retired. This is in accordance with Air Canada's ultimate goal of providing more point-to-point service with fuel efficient aircraft.
Last Air Canada
CRJ 100ER flights operated April 30. All of Air Canada’s CRJs were transfered to Air Canada Jazz.
- During the mid- 1990s , Air Canada repainted an Airbus A319 in the ''Trans-Canada'' retro livery.
- Air Canada is the official carrier of the Toronto Raptors Basketball team. One of its Airbus A320 's was repainted to honour the team. It was painted with the raptor dinosaur logo on an all-black fuselage, earning it the nickname "Dino-bus".
- Air Canada's parent company, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol, ACE.RV.
- Air Canada unveiled a new aircraft colour scheme, and blue uniforms, on 19 October 2004 . A Boeing 767-300 was painted in a silvery colour with a blue tint. The green tail has been replaced with the same silvery paint, but retains a version of the red Maple leaf.
- Air Canada was the winner of Best North American Airline in the 2005 World Airline Awards
- Air Canada is the only airline in Canada regulated by the Official Languages Act . In-flight services must be provided in both official languages on any route that (1) starts, has an intermediate stop or finishes at an airport located in the National Capital Region , the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area or the City of Moncton ; (2) starts and finishes at airports located in the same province, where that province has a linguistic minority population that is equal to at least 5% of the total population ( Ontario , Quebec and New Brunswick ); (3) runs between two of these provinces. On other routes, services must be provided in both official languages when the demand for service in the minority official language is equal to at least 5% of the total demand. Air Canada was recently ordered by the Federal Court Of Canada to apologize to a passenger who had complained about the absence of service in French on a flight to Ottawa.
- Air Canada also is the creator of the Dreams Take Flight program which flies special needs kids to Disneyland for a day.
Air Canada offers two classes of service on the majority of its flights, with single-class service offered on some short-haul Air Canada Jazz regional routings (Dash 8-100, Dash 8-300, CRJ, Beech 1900D).
Air Canada's premium international service is and is offered on the vast majority of their transcontinental services. Executive First currently features a 2-2-2 or 1-2-2 seating arrangement of seats reclining to around 155 degrees. Individual televisions (A340, 767), Video-On-Demand (A330, A340) or Personal DVD players (767) are offered to Executive First customers. A premium 4-course meal service is offered, with "cart-less" service and food served in restaurant-style bowls or plates, as opposed to traditional casserole corningware. Beginning in the first quarter of 2006, Air Canada will replace the current Executive First seats on all its aircraft (except the A340s, which will be phased out) to individual lie-flat suites, in a 1-2-1 arrangement, giving customers greater privacy as well as a full length bed. This move is designed to compete with airlines such as Cathay Pacific and British Airways, who offer similar services.
Air Canada's domestic premium service is a toned down version of their international service. Premium meals as well as individualized service is offered, but currently only mainscreen entertainment is available. However, with Air Canada's fleet and seating renewal, beginning in 2006 all aircraft will be refitted with new Executive Class seats with personal televisions. A similar meal service to Executive First is offered.
is Air Canada's version of economy class. Recently, meals have been removed on all North American flights to cut costs, but meals are still offered on transcontinental and Hawaiian routings. Along with the Business Class seat renewals, Hospitality Class seats will be replaced with personal entertainment-equipped seats gradually over the next few years.
For those who have trouble figuring out which letter on their boarding pass maps to the named classes shown on the website, here is a rough breakdown as listed on the 2007 Aeroplan upgrade certificates - Tango (R, I, N, G, P, E, T), Tango Plus (B, H, V, Q , L, A), Latitude (M, U), Latitude Plus (Y) and Executive (J, C). It helps to know this mapping when booking through non-AirCanada agents.
On most Air Canada jets, there is a main screen (with overhead TVs on top of every few seats) which broadcasts recorded
CBC news and other
Hollywood movies. On the
A340-500 , every passenger has a TV, which is powered by a custom design
Linux variant, and their enRoute program. Passengers can learn facts and figures of cities, and where they are using the
GPS system installed on the plane. Beginning on February 13, Air Canada begin launching the new state-of-the-art Thales i4500 in-flight entertainment system on their fleet of Embraer 175 and 190 aircraft. This in-seat entertainment system, which is being introduced fleet-wide, features 8.9-inch wide digital in-seat monitors and touch-screen controls offering audio and video on demand programming at every seat.
- In 2001, Air Canada launched Air Canada Tango , which offered No-frills service and lower fares between major cities such as Toronto , Vancouver , Montreal and also to some holiday destinations such as Fort Lauderdale . Tango aircraft were painted with the Air Canada design but in Purple . It is thought that Tango was intended to be Air Canada's vehicle for competing against the low cost carrier Canada 3000 . The Tango service was dissolved in 2004. Air Canada calls their lowest fare class "Tango" as an homage to the low-cost experiment.
- In 2002, Air Canada launched Zip , a Discount Airline to compete directly with Westjet on routes in Western Canada. Zip operated as a separate airline with its own staff, and had brightly painted Aircraft . It also was disbanded in 2004.
- Launched in 2002, Air Canada Jetz still exists as a charter service for sports teams and professionals.
