Air Canada announces abridged summer flight schedule
Canada’s largest airline is cutting destinations in half as it prepares to resume operations.
Released Friday, Air Canada’s summer schedule will serve only 97 destinations worldwide — down from 220 last year.
“As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, during which as much as 95% of our flights stopped operating and which has left us flying to less than half last year’s destinations, our customers are expressing their eagerness to travel,” said Air Canada executive vice president Lucie Guillemette. “We are accordingly gradually opening for sale flights for the summer and beyond as we rebuild our network, leveraging our strong position as a global airline.”
Domestic flights will increase to 58 in June, with more planned during the summer.
Air Canada resumed service to six American airports on Friday — down from the usual 53 — with flights to New York-LaGuardia, Washington-Dulles, L.A., San Francisco, Boston and Chicago.
Pending demand and regulatory hurdles, more U.S. destinations will be added next month.
Internationally, Air Canada will service a limited number of hubs from three Canadian airports.
While Toronto and Montreal will both offer flights to Frankfurt and London, YYZ will offer service to Zurich, Tokyo and Tel Aviv, while flights to Paris and Brussels will depart from YUL.
Vancouver will also offer direct flights to London and Tokyo, plus Hong Kong and Seoul.
That will expand next month with additional routes from Montreal to Athens, Rome and Geneva, Toronto to Munich, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Rome and Athens and Calgary to Frankfurt.
Pending government approval, direct flights from Vancouver to Shanghai — the airline’s only Chinese destination — are also planned.
While Air Canada’s current Caribbean offerings consist of a single daily flight to Mexico City, routes will expand in June to include Martinique, Bermuda and Jamaica, and 16 more in July.
No timetable has been provided for South American destinations in Brazil, Colombia and Chile.
International destinations left off Air Canada’s abridged roster include Taipei, Bangkok and Beijing, as well as last year’s celebrated return of daily service to Delhi and Mumbai — halted Feb. 2019 due to tensions between India and Pakistan.
Information on the schedule and Air Canada’s infection safeguards can be found at aircanada.com/readyfortakeoff.