Air Canada will increase capacity on its daily non-stop flights from Vancouver to Hong Kong and London starting November 16, Air Canada (TSX:AC.B) CEO Calin Rovinescu told Business in Vancouver following his November 13 speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade (VBOT).
Rovinescu explained that 31% more seats and a new seat class will be added, while the new configuration will include 14% fewer business class seats.
Canada's national carrier will fly the same Boeing 777-300ER planes on those routes but orchestrate a different seat configuration. Instead of the current 42 business class seats and 307 economy seats, the airline plans to have 36 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats and 398 economy seats on these flights.
The premium economy flights will have a price point between business class and economy and provide customers with more leg room and food options that resemble those in business class, Rovinescu said.
When Air Canada receives six Boeing 787 Dreamliners next year, it plans to base at least one of the planes in Vancouver.
Rovinescu had hinted to BIV that one potential future route could be between Vancouver and India – something that the Vancouver Airport Authority has sought for years.
In his VBOT speech, however, he hinted at two other possible flights: Vancouver-Brisbane, Australia, and Vancouver-Frankfurt, Germany.
Air Canada's executive vice-president and chief commercial officer Benjamin Smith explained after Rovinescu's speech that although it would not be hard to fill flights between Vancouver and India, it would be difficult to be reliably profitable because there is so much competition at major Indian airports. Fewer carriers fly to Brisbane, he added.
