AIR CANADA REVAMPING LUX PRODUCT

AIR Canada is deep into the design phase of the next generation of its business class pod seating, Executive VP Marketing & Digital Mark Nasr revealed to Travel Daily, which will form part of a number of revamps of its luxury product.

The new pods will be the third generation of the product, with Air Canada planning two new designs - one for its Airbus A321XLRs, and one for its future wide-body product.

All of Air Canada’s 30 A321XLRs will come with 14 pod suites which will be optimised to fit a narrow-body single-aisle aircraft.

There will also be a version of the pod designed for its wide-body aircraft, which in Air Canada’s current fleet includes Boeing 777s, Boeing 787 Dreamliners, and a number of Airbus A330-300s.

Air Canada is also working on a new design standard for its lounges, which is set to be unveiled to the marketplace in just a few months, Nasr added.

The airline’s overhaul of its highend product is a project the team is “deeply passionate” about, Nasr said, focused on bringing a distinctive cultural quality to AC.

“One of the things I admire from the airlines down here is that they are unmistakably Australian,” he enthused.

“There’s some things that we can learn from that playbook... coming up with just a really consistent and elevated expression of our brand and one that’s unmistakably Canadian.

“We offer a great experience, but there’s an opportunity to make it more Canadian and extol the values and virtues of Canadiana.”

Pictured, Senior Director of Sales APAC Kiyo Weiss and VP Brand Andy Shibata with Nasr on their recent visit to Sydney.