Air Canada to fly AKL-YVR

[Mattg]

Air Canada is launching seasonal flights from Auckland to Vancouver, to run from December until March. The flights will run 4x weekly on a Boeing 787-8. Apparently, Air Canada is seeking to operate the route as a Joint Venture with Air New Zealand, which already flies to YVR year-round.

Air Canada Launches New Route From Vancouver To Auckland

Air Canada has recently been looking for ways to increase its fleet utilisation and load factors during the northern winter when demand for travel within North America and across the Atlantic is lower. This new route seems to be a smart use of aircraft for Air Canada during the northern winter months.

Air Canada Struggles With How to Fill Planes in Winter

 

[ozfflyer]

Air Canada is launching seasonal flights from Auckland to Vancouver, to run from December until March. The flights will run 4x weekly on a Boeing 787-8. Apparently, Air Canada is seeking to operate the route as a Joint Venture with Air New Zealand, which already flies to YVR year-round.

Air Canada Launches New Route From Vancouver To Auckland

Air Canada has recently been looking for ways to increase its fleet utilisation and load factors during the northern winter when demand for travel within North America and across the Atlantic is lower. This new route seems to be a smart use of aircraft for Air Canada during the northern winter months.

Air Canada Struggles With How to Fill Planes in Winter

seems strange though that AC will now be competing with NZ on same route, when both in Star Alliance.

Australia/Vancouver flights have always been much more expensive than flights to SFO & LAX, even though practically the same distance. This may mean that AKL/YVR flights come back to SFO & LAX levels. WIll have to wait & see if Australians start flying to AKL to connect with AC to go to Canada. Many now go via LAX or SFO as it's much cheaper & use their frequent flyer points from there.

 

[Mattg]

seems strange though that AC will now be competing with NZ on same route, when both in Star Alliance.

Well, considering they're applying for a joint venture on the route, I don't think they'll be competing exactly.

 

[ozfflyer]

Well, considering they're applying for a joint venture on the route, I don't think they'll be competing exactly.

discretionary spending on things like travel is plummeting in Australia at least. Many think that skiing in Canada is cheaper than USA, even though it's not(something to do with exchange rate & Canadian marketing highlights it), so right now, many Australians are booking their Xmas/Jan ski holidays & looking for cheapest way to get there. So maybe both AC & NZ will have to drop their fares to YVR from Australia to counter the big move to go via USA tog et to Canada.

 

[Berlin]

Too bad that the Norther Hemisphere is cold and coughty during this time of the year. I never understood why you'd do this to yourself if you can avoid it (i.e. on holidays, not for work). Vancouver in Summer = awesome.