"Air Canada is pleased to expand its services from North Carolina with a new route to Montreal and larger aircraft operating to Toronto. The new Raleigh-Montreal service will be the only non-stop flight between these cities, while customers travelling between Toronto and Raleigh and Charlotte will now have the option of Business Class, offering an upgraded flying experience. While always a popular leisure destination, North Carolina is also experiencing strong economic growth and Air Canada is making it more convenient and comfortable for customers to travel between Canada and the state," said Mark Galardo, Vice President, Network Planning, at Air Canada.
The new service between Montreal - Raleigh will operate direct non-stop on a daily basis from 1st May 2019. The airline is introducing the route with a 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ). From Toronto, starting 1st May 2019, three-times-daily flights to Raleigh and twice-daily service to Charlotte will be upgraded to a 76-seat, Embraer E175s from a CRJ aircraft.
"We're very excited that Air Canada is continuing to invest in Raleigh–Durham International Airport and our region with service to Montreal, our seventh nonstop international destination. This is one of our top unserved international markets, providing travellers with exciting new opportunities and access to Air Canada's global network," said Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Landguth.
Flight
|
Departs
|
Arrives
|
Flight
|
Departs
|
Arrives
|
AC7691
|
Toronto 8:20
|
Raleigh 10:08
|
AC7692
|
Raleigh 06:00
|
Toronto 07:56
|
AC7693
|
Toronto 16:05
|
Raleigh 17:53
|
AC7694
|
Raleigh 10:45
|
Toronto 12:41
|
AC7695
|
Toronto 20:55
|
Raleigh 22:43
|
AC7696
|
Raleigh 18:30
|
Toronto 20:26
|
AC7582
|
Toronto 09:05
|
Charlotte 11:04
|
AC7583
|
Charlotte 11:40
|
Toronto 13:38
|
AC7584
|
Toronto 16:00
|
Charlotte 17:59
|
AC7585
|
Charlotte 18:35
|
Toronto 20:33
|
AC8178
|
Montreal 13:35
|
Raleigh 15:45
|
AC8179
|
Raleigh 16:15
|
Montreal 18:20
|
Air Canada is the largest Canadian airline offering domestic and international airline serving more than 220 airports on six continents. It is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2017 served more than 48 million customers. Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 64 airports in Canada, 59 in the United States and 98 in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America.
Blockchain on the way
The airline also announced today it has signed a letter of intent to participate in a blockchain-based, decentralized open-source travel distribution platform being developed by the Swiss start-up, Winding Tree.
The complexity of the current travel distribution landscape can deter new entrants and innovation in the distribution and sale of air travel products. Winding Tree intends to address this complexity by developing a decentralized, open-source platform for travel distribution to provide greater access to inventory directly from suppliers.
"We are pleased to be participating with Winding Tree in this innovative project for a new travel distribution channel," said Keith Wallis, Director of Global Product Distribution for Air Canada. "As Canada's largest airline and a global leader in innovative airline distribution solutions, Air Canada recognizes the importance of leveraging this next generation technology. We plan to integrate Air Canada's Direct Connect API with Winding Tree's public blockchain platform, giving blockchain-savvy users the ability to access our content directly from the source."
"As the first North American carrier to work with Winding Tree's public blockchain platform, Air Canada is showing itself to be a real leader in innovation," said Pedro Anderson, Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Winding Tree. "We are excited to have their valuable collaboration in creating the ideal developer experience and their ongoing feedback along the way as we build an open environment for travel distribution."
(Photos CNW Group/Air Canada)
