Canada celebrates Canada Day and Air Canada rouge celebrates its second anniversary

Air Canada (Montreal) today on Canada Day (July 1) issued this update statement on its Air Canada rouge (Toronto) brand and division:

Today Air Canada rouge welcomes customers celebrating Canada Day onboard its flights as the airline celebrates its second year in the skies creating a memorable travel experience for customers.

“As an integral component of Air Canada’s strategy for sustained profitability, Air Canada rouge continues to grow and successfully expand our market reach,” said Benjamin Smith , President, Passenger Airlines at Air Canada. “Air Canada rouge is deployed on routes with high leisure travel demand at a competitive cost structure.”

By the numbers

Air Canada rouge began operations on July 1, 2013 with a start-up fleet of two Airbus A319 aircraft and two Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft on 14 routes from Toronto (Pearson) and Montreal (Trudeau) to the Caribbean and Europe . The airline operated 5 flights with 775 customers on the first day of operations.

This year’s Canada Day will see Air Canada rouge operate 101 flights and carry more than 15,000 customers. In the last two years, Air Canada rouge has flown over 4.5 million customers to destinations around the world. Air Canada rouge now operates a total of 33 aircraft including 20 Airbus A319 and 13 Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft on 67 routes from Toronto , Montreal , Calgary and Vancouver to 49 destinations in Europe , Mexico , the U.S., the Caribbean , Asia , South America and Canada .

Investing in the customer experience

Air Canada rouge has also completed the conversion of its Premium rouge cabin on the Airbus A319, from 3×3 seating configuration with a blocked middle seat to two side-by-side larger seats in a 2×2 configuration. An additional 30 per cent of carry-on space on the A319 fleet will be available starting this summer thanks to the installation of new overhead bin doors which allow carry-on items to be stowed more efficiently. Upgrades to the hardware and content offering on the in-flight entertainment system have been made across the Air Canada rouge fleet.

“Air Canada rouge continues to evolve its product, our brand and our customer experience to ensure that we are meeting the expectations of our customers,” said Michael Friisdahl , President and CEO, Air Canada Leisure Group. “It is our responsiveness to customer feedback and to the dynamics and trends of our industry that have helped us create a truly market-leading leisure travel experience.”