| About Air Canada |
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An overview of Air Canada  Air Canada started out as Trans-Canada Airlines in September 1937. The inaugural flight was a 50 minute flight on a Lockheed L-10A from Vancouver to Seattle, transporting mail and a total of two passengers. The airline grew rapidly and by the year 1964, Trans-Canada Airlines had become the national airline for Canada. It was then that the name was changed to Air Canada. The airline was privatised in 1989. Air Canada also bought Canadian Airlines International around that time. Air Canada is 70 years old today and is Canada’s largest passenger service airline. It transports about 32 million passengers annually to 170 destinations across the five continents. The airline also ranks number 14 amongst the airlines across the globe. Air Canada believes that travel should be convenient for its customers and therefore it is the only airline that offer flight passes. Flight passes allow the passenger to manage their travel online. These flight passes can be obtained either in the form of pre-purchased flight credits or a monthly subscription that provides you with unlimited flights in certain sectors. The airline is one of the best in the world, and this is the feedback from none other than Air Canada’s own customers. Air Canada was given the title of the ‘Best Airline in North America’ by a survey that was conducted from August 2006 and June 2007. The Airline Industry Achievement Award was also presented to the airline in 2007 for being a market leader. Air Canada already has several ‘Best Airline in Canada and North America’ under its belt, awarded by readers of various travel magazines. While Air Canada works hard to keep their passengers happy and satisfied, they work just as hard to do their bit for preserving the environment. They have already started this process by spending billions and investing in new aircrafts that are energy efficient. Air Canada has managed to reduce the emission intensity of their flights by 28%. They also have an ambitious target of improving their fuel efficiency by 25% by the year 2020. Air Canada also launched green programs in-house and recycling programs on board. They teamed up with an interesting program called ‘zerofootprint’. This program allows passengers to voluntarily offset the carbon emissions from the flight they have taken by participating in the reforestation program in Canada. Destinations  Air Canada flies to 15 domestic destinations and 81 internationaldestinations in 33 countries (including British overseas territories, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Overseas departments and territories of France and United States territories) across Asia, Americas, Europe and Oceania. Along with its regional partners, the carrier serves 171 destinations in 39 countries worldwide. Air Canada has flown a number of fifth freedom routes (passenger and cargo rights between two non-Canadian destinations), only one of which is still operated, namely Santiago-Buenos Aires. Past fifth freedom routes have included: Honolulu-Sydney, London Heathrow-Düsseldorf, Paris-Geneva, Paris-Munich, Paris-Berlin, Frankfurt-Zürich, Zürich-Zagreb, Zürich-Vienna, Zürich-Delhi, Lisbon-Madrid, Brussels-Prague, London Heathrow-Delhi, London Heathrow-Nice, London Heathrow-Bombay-Singapore. Codeshare agreements Air Canada has codeshare agreements with the following airlines: • Air China * • Air New Zealand * • ANA* • Asiana Airlines * • Austrian Airlines * • Avianca (Future Star Alliance member) • BMI * • Brussels Airlines * • Continental Airlines * • Jet Airways • LOT Polish Airlines * • Lufthansa * • Middle East Airlines • Scandinavian Airlines * • Singapore Airlines * • Spanair * • SriLankan Airlines • Swiss International Air Lines * • TACA Airlines (Future Star Alliance member) • TAM Airlines * • TAP Portugal* • Thai Airways International * • United Airlines * Notes: * indicates Star Alliance partners; Air Canada is one of the founding members of Star Alliance. |