Air Canada
Air Canada,
Canada's largest airline and
flag carrier, has its corporate headquarters in
Montreal,
Quebec and was founded in
1937. The airline provides scheduled and charter air transportation for passengers and cargo to over 240 destinations and vacation packages to over 90 destinations via Air Canada Vacations. The company also provides maintenance services (under the name ACTS - Air Canada Technical Services), ground handling (under the name ACGHS - Air Canada Ground Handling Services), a customer loyalty and rewards division (Aeroplan), regional airline services (under the name Air Canada Jazz, formerly Air Canada Regional, which was itself a consolidation of Air Nova, Air Ontario, Air BC, Air Alliance, and Canadian Regional), 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 uses
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport as European hubs,
Calgary International Airport as a hub for Western Canada,
Vancouver International Airport as its hub for Pacific operations and
Halifax International Airport as a focus city for Atlantic Canada.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport,
Winnipeg International Airport and
Vancouver International Airport are the main mechanic centres for the airline. Montreal handles all the large jumbo jets, while Winnipeg and Vancouver handle the smaller jets.
Air Canada's regional partners include
Air Canada Jazz,
Exploits Valley Air Services,
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.
Air Canada is the 12th largest airline in the world
by fleet size. However, with record profits in 2005, the purchase of numerous new planes, and the addition of new destinations, Air Canada is on its way to surpassing other airlines to become the 9th largest by the end of 2007.
Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA) was created as a subsidiary of
Canadian National Railway (CNR) on
April 10,
1937. Passenger operations began on
September 1, with a Lockheed 10A 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 which was a significant blow to western Canada. In the 1950s Air Canada did pioneering work in the use of computer reservation systems with the development of the
ReserVec system. By 1964 TCA had grown to become Canada's national airline and in 1964
Jean Chrétien submitted a
private member's bill to change the name of the airline from Trans-Canada Airlines to Air Canada. This bill failed but it was resubmitted and passed, with the name change taking effect on
January 1,
1965. In a late
1970s reorganization at CNR, Air Canada became an independent
Crown corporation.
In
1987, Air Canada became the first airline in the world to have a fleet-wide non-smoking policy[
1], and in 1989 became completely
privatised. 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. The airline continues to
code-share with Star members.
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 creating 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.
On
April 1 2003, Air Canada filed for
bankruptcy protection, emerging from this protection on
September 30,
2004, 19 months later.
ACE Aviation Holdings is the new parent company under which the reorganized Air Canada is held. As of January 2005, Air Canada employed 29,198 staff.
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 and then shipped to
Montreal to remove the paint. The remaining
Boeing 747-400s which were previously in service have been superseded by the A340-500, which themselves are due for replacement. The
A340-500 will be replaced by
Boeing 777-300ER, which will be delievered in the last quarter of 2006 and first quarter of 2007.
On
November 9,
2005, Air Canada announced that it would renew its widebody fleet over several years by purchasing a mixture of Boeing
777 and
787 Dreamliner aircraft.
["Aircraft General Terms Agreement between The Boeing Company and Air Canada", SEDAR (Note: 18MB PDF document)] The order included a firm order for 32 airframes(18 777s and 14 787s) plus options for 64 more (18 777s and 46 787s), totalling 96 airframes. The first 777s are to begin arriving in 2006 and the first 787s 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. Their 787 aircraft will be powered by the
GEnx engine.[
2] The order is a mixtured of 777-200LRs and 777-300ERs, and 787-8s and 787-9s.
With the purchase of 777s, Air Canada will gradually phase out all
A340s, including the older A340-300s and, the new A340-500s. 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. [
3]
In November 2005 Air Canada stopped serving hot meals to all economy class seats for flights within Canada and the United States (except for certain Vancouver-Toronto flights inbound/outbound to Asia aswell as Toronto-Los Angeles flights and other other nonstop flights within
North America longer than 5 hours, where hot meals are still served in economy). A selection of cold foods has been made available for purchase on those flights via the pay-as-you-go service "Onboard Cafe/Café en vol".
Air Canada has recently made several efforts to decrease fuel burn by reducing aircraft weight:
* In November 2005, the paint and primer were removed from C-GDSP (a Boeing 767-233ER, tailfin no 613). However, the result was not considered aesthetically pleasing and the aircraft was scheduled to be repainted in March 2006.
* Traditional blankets and pillows have been replaced by inflatable plastic pillow and blanket kits (similar to those used on other world airlines).
* Traditional wine bottles have been replaced by tetra-pack containers for in-flight service.
* In 2006, the airline began offering customers a modest rebate (termed the "GO Discount") in exchange for foregoing their checked baggage allowance.
*
November 29,
1963:
McDonnell Douglas DC-8 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.
*
May 19,
1967:
McDonnell Douglas DC-8, 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.
*
July 5,
1970:
Flight 621 McDonnell Douglas DC-8 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.
*
June 21,
1973:
McDonnell Douglas DC-8, caught fire and was burnt out during refuelling at Terminal 2,
Toronto, Ontario. There were no deaths or injuries.
*
June 26,
1978:
Flight 189 McDonnell Douglas DC-9 overran the runway in Toronto after a blown tire aborted the takeoff. 2 of 107 passengers/crew were killed.
*
June 2,
1982: McDonnell Douglas DC-9 exploded during a maintenance period in
Montreal, Quebec. No deaths.
*
June 2,
1983:
Flight 797 McDonnell Douglas DC-9 had an electrical fire in the aft lavatory during flight, resulting in an emergency landing at
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. During emergency egress, the sudden influx of oxygen caused a flash fire throughout the cabin, resulting in the deaths of 23 of the 41 passengers, including Canadian folk singer
Stan Rogers. All five crewmembers survived.
*
July 23,
1983:
Flight 143 Boeing 767 made an emergency landing in
Gimli, Manitoba after running out of fuel. No one was injured. This incident was the subject of the TV movie
Falling from the Sky: Flight 174, starring
William Devane*
December 16,
1997: Air Canada Flight 646
Bombardier Canadair CRJ-100 crashed on a go-around in
Fredericton, New Brunswick. No deaths.
*
September 14,
2001: Air Canada Flight 792
Airbus A320 was preparing for departure to
Calgary, Alberta from
Toronto, Ontario when a passenger noticed loose, clearly visible
X-acto knives in the overhead bins. It is unknown whether the knives were onboard the aircraft on
September 11, when it had been scheduled to fly from Toronto to
New York City but was grounded following the attacks on the
World Trade Center.
CNN articleIn
October 2003 Air Canada became the second
airline (after
Canada 3000) 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
August 1,
2004 Air Canada converted the daily
Hong Kong –
Toronto Pearson International Airport flight AC15/16 with a stop at Vancouver to a non-stop flight taking the
Great Circle route near the
North Pole [
4]. A total distance of 12,569
km (7810
miles) is flown using two new
A340-500s, becoming the first route to Hong Kong applying A340-500 ultra long-haul aircraft.
Air Canada is inaugurating new service from
Edmonton to
Las Vegas on September 7th. There will be two flights a week, using an
Airbus A319.
Air Canada has applied to the Australian, Canadian and U.S. governments to begin daily flights between
Toronto and
Sydney via
Los Angeles with a
Boeing 777-300ER starting the first quarter of 2007.
Air Canada recently announced it will discontinue nonstop service from
St. John's to
London Heathrow. It currently operates a daily
Boeing 767 flight 860/861
Halifax-
London via St. John's but announced it was going to bypass this stopover on September 4th, 2006. However, on
July 20 2006, it announced it would be resuming service to London, operating three times weekly starting
April 7 2007, on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, increasing to five times a week in May 2007, and to daily service from mid-June to September 2007. Flight 830 will leave St. John's at 12:55, arriving in London at 21:25, and flight 831 will leave London at 22:40, arriving in St. John's at 00:40. The route will be served by newly refurbished 120-seat Airbus 319 aircraft with a choice of Executive Class and Economy service. The aircraft will feature Air Canada's new personal entertainment system currently being introduced fleet-wide with 8.9 inch digital in-seat monitors and touch-screen controls offering audio and video on demand programming at every seat. Other features will include Air Canada's new seating and cabin design with in-seat power within reach of every customer. [
5]
The Air Canada fleet consists of 192 of the following aircraft (as of July
2006):
| Seats | Notes |
|---|
| Airbus A319-100 | 45 | 120 (J14/Y106) | Beginning fall 2006, new interiors will be installed with laptop power and on-demand PTV at every seat, All A319's to be completed March 2007 |
| Airbus A320-200 | 46 | 140 (J20/Y120) | In May 2006 a major interior facelift began with the installation of new interiors and seats with laptop power and on-demand PTV at every seat, all A320's to be completed by December 2006 |
| Airbus A321-200 | 10 | 166 (J24/Y142) | Beginning winter 2006, new interiors will be installed with laptop power and on-demand PTV at every seat will be installed, All A321's to be completed by June 2007 |
| Airbus A330-300 | 8 | 274 (J42/Y232) | Used mainly on transatlantic routes; personal suites with full length bed being introduced on all 767s and A330s in Executive First, PTVs being introduced in Economy Class; will be replaced by Boeing 787-8 |
| Airbus A340-300 | 10 | 286 (J30/Y256) | Used mainly on trans-pacific routes. Will be replaced by Boeing 777 |
| Airbus A340-500 | 2 | 267 (J42/Y225) | Used on Hong Kongâ€"Toronto non-stop route over North Pole; PTVs in all seats; will be replaced by Boeing 777 in later years since this is a newer aircraft. |
| Boeing 767-200/200ER | 12 | 207 (J24/Y183) | New interiors and seats with laptop power and on-demand PTVs being introduced at every seat; will be replaced by Boeing 787-8 after 2010. |
| Boeing 767-300ER | 33 | 203 (J30/Y173)
213 (J25/Y188)
212 (J30/Y182)
212 (J25/Y187) | Personal Suites with full length flat bed being introduced on all 767s and A330s in Executive First, PTVs being introduced in Economy Class; will be replaced by Boeing 787-8 |
| Embraer 175 | 15 | 73 (J9/Y64) | Features leather seats and PTVs at all seats |
| Embraer 190 | 11 (34) | 93 (J9/Y84) | Features leather seats and PTVs at all seats |
In March 2006 Air Canada's fleet was 9.8 years old. Air Canada has
Boeing 777s and 787 Dreamliners on order to renew the widebody fleet.
Orders
Air Canada orders fleet consists of 70 of the following aircraft and options and purchase rights for 64 more aircraft totaling 134. (as of
August 2006)
| Options | Seats | Notes |
|---|
| Boeing 777-200LR | (12) | 18 | | Will eventually replace all Airbus A340s |
| Boeing 777-300ER | (4)| | Replacement for Boeing 747-400 |
| Boeing 777F | (2)| | Launch customer along with Air France-KLM |
| Boeing 787-8 | (14) | Will eventually replace all Airbus A330s and Boeing 767s |
| Embraer 190 | (34)|93 (J9/Y84) | Will be used to expand their domestic and transborder routes |
Jetz Fleet
Air Canada's subsidiary, Air Canada Jetz has a fleet of 4 aircraft.
Main article: Air Canada Jetz
Jazz Fleet
Air Canada's Subsidiary, Air Canada Jazz has a separate fleet consisting of 135 of the following aircraft (as of May 2006):
Main article: Air Canada Jazz
Last Air Canada CRJ 100ER flights operated April 30 2006. All of Air Canada's CRJs were transferred to Air Canada Jazz.Historic fleet
*Avro Lancastrian (1943-1947)
*BAe 146-200
*Boeing 727-200 (1974-1992)
*Boeing 737-200 (1976-2004)
*Boeing 747-100 -200 Combi -400 -400 Combi (1971-2004)*Bombardier CRJ 100ER (1994-2006)
*Bristol 31 (1953-1955)
*Canadair North Star (1946-1961)
*Douglas DC-3 (1945-1963)
*Douglas DC-8-40 -50 -60 -70 (1960-1983)
*Douglas DC-9-30 (1966-2002)
*Douglas DC-10 (1971-2001)
*Fokker F28
*Lockheed Super Constellation (1954-1963)
*Lockheed Electra (1937-1941)
*Lockheed L-1011 -1 -15 -100 -500 (1973-1996)
*Lockheed Lodestar (1941-1949)
*Lockheed Super Electra (1938-1949)
*Stearman (1937-1939)
*Vickers Vanguard (1961-1972)
*Vickers Viscount (1955-1974)*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 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 also is the creator of the Dreams Take Flight program which flies children with special needs 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).
Upgraded amenities were due to start rolling out across the fleet (as detailed below) from Spring 2006, although delays have been encountered and the upgrade is now expected to fully commence in late 2006.
Air Canada's premium international service is Executive First, 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. Audio-Video-On-Demand (AVOD) personal at-seat televisions are available on all Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft. Personal DVD players without AVOD are provided free of charge on all Boeing 767 aircraft to all 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. However, it has recently been said that this upgrade has been delayed to September of 2006. This move is to compete with airlines such as Cathay Pacific and British Airways, who offer similar services.
Air Canada's domestic premium service is Executive Class, 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.
Hospitality Service 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.
The letter on a boarding pass maps to the named classes shown on the website, a rough breakdown as listed on the 2007 Aeroplan upgrade certificatesfollows: 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 of Air Canada's aircraft, 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. Furthermore, they can watch videos on demand, play games and listen to the Air Canada radio channels. Air Canada have launched the new state-of-the-art Thales i4500 in-flight entertainment system on their entire fleet of 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 in every seat, and is being introduced to the entire Air Canada fleet (except A340 aircraft), by the end of 2007.*In 2001, Air Canada consolidated Air BC, Air Nova, Air Ontario and Canadian Regional Airlines into Air Canada Jazz a wholly owned subsidiary of ACE Aviation Holdings. In early February 2006, a portion of Jazz was spun off by ACE Aviation Holdings.
*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 brightly painted aircraft. It also was disbanded in 2004.
*Launched in 2002, Air Canada Jetz is a charter service for sports teams and professionals.
* In 2005, it split off a portion of its frequent flyer program, Aeroplan into a separate company. Aeroplan has evolved into a broader customer loyalty program, with partnerships with Bell Canada, Future Shop and others.*Air Canada was one of the first airlines to have its entire fleet of unpressurized aircraft equipped with fixed oxygen systems for use by flight crew and passengers, using the rebreathing bag principle.
*Air Canada was the first airline to operate a jet freighter with the introduction of the DC-8.
*Air Canada became the first major airline with an all turbine fleet which allowed an increase in productivity and reduction in maintenance costs.
*Air Canada became the first airline in the world to introduce a system-wide Non-Smoking policy.
*Air Canada was the first airline in Canada to operate the Airbus A320, and the first North American carrier to operate the A319, the first of which was introduced on the Toronto-Boston route.
*Air Canada became the first airline in the world to offer all its customers telephones at arm's reach on all of its aircraft.
*The Electronic ticket made its debut in Canada when Air Canada began testing the service on selected Canadian routes. It was phased in across Canada and on transborder routes during 1996.
*Air Canada became the first major airline in Canada to offer E-mail sell-offs with AC WEBSAVER.
*Air Canada became the first commercial airline to enable passengers to send and receive e-mail on their laptops while in flight, as well as surf websites.
*Air Canada was the first North American operator of the A340-300 and A340-500.
*Air Canada
*Air Canada Fleet Age
*Virtual Air Canada (Flight Simulation)
*Air Canada Fleet Detail
*Air Canada Passenger Opinions
*Air Canada crashes
*Air Canada company news, history and bookings
*Air Canada Timeline
*ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. Insider Holdings and Transactions
*FlyerTalk Air Canada Discussion Board
*Air Canada Horizons Newsletter
*CBC Digital Archives - Turbulent Skies: The Air Canada Story
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