As it continues its push into the Australian market, Air Canada wants to bring back non-stop services between Melbourne and Vancouver, says one of the airline’s senior executives.
Speaking to media at an event in Sydney, Air Canada Executive Vice President, Marketing and Digital, and Aeroplan President Mark Nasr said the Victorian capital was “absolutely on our list” of future destinations, but right now the carrier was “short on aircraft” to immediately commit to the route.
Despite this shortfall, Nasr said the airline “will actually be larger in terms of seats to Australia … than we were pre-pandemic” by late 2023.
“And it’s off of Brisbane becoming a daily flight, and of course, Sydney having a 10 [flights per] week offer,” he explained.
“Melbourne, we were doing three or four flights a week prior to the pandemic … so stay tuned.”
“And then of course the Auckland service as well to round out our South Pacific [flights].”
Talking to Tullamarine flights, Nasr said “it was a market that worked very well for us, particularly for American travellers or people going to or from America. And so it’s certainly a service that’s on our list”.
On why it was such a strong market, Nasr flagged “the connection experience” that enabled ex-Victoria travellers to connect to US cities beyond Los Angeles and San Francisco. In truth, that could be said for ex-Sydney and Brisbane passengers as well.
“Whether it’s Denver, or San Diego, or Miami … it might be Washington, New York. We’ve heard a lot of feedback that said … this feels better than trying to navigate Los Angeles Airport,” he explained.
Melbourne return
Speaking to Karryon at the event, Tokyo-based Air Canada Senior Director of Sales Asia-Pacific Kiyo Weiss said she saw a lot of potential in the Melbourne market and would love to see it “return as early as next winter, but no decision has been made”.
So Victorians would have a nice launchpad into the Canadian snow season, which is a massive drawcard in North America.
Last month, Air Canada upped capacity on flights from Brisbane and Sydney to Vancouver just for the 2023/24 northern winter season.
Air Canada General Manager Australia and New Zealand, Vic Naughton added that when Air Canada flew out of Tullamarine, it offered “the fastest way to get to New York” from Melbourne, which was another reason the MEL-YVR route was so popular.
“At the moment we’re the fastest from Brisbane to New York; we’re about the same [from] Sydney. We’re very, very close. We have longer in the air but less time in the airport because of the transit experience,” he added.
Naughton said currently around half of all Australians flying Air Canada end in Vancouver, with around a quarter going onto other parts of Canada and “probably 20 per cent now” going to the US.
Top transit
The US figure has risen since the pandemic largely on the back of the transit experience.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work marketing transit, post-COVID … I do think the message is getting out there, which is helping us get more of that US [bound] market share,” Naughton remarked.
While the US struggles with long processing times for visitors at gateway airports – international travellers are experiencing average customs wait times of more than one hour at top US airports – connecting through to the States from Canada is a relative breeze.
Nasr said the carrier had spent “the last 15 years working with the US Government, the Canadian Government and the airport authorities to have the best transit offer”.
“You [Australians] are familiar with landing in Tom Bradley International in Los Angeles, completing quite a process to get into the United States. Then, picking up your bags, venturing out to another terminal, standing in a line to check in again, dropping off your bags, going through a local security checkpoint, and maybe, just maybe 90 minutes later, if you’re lucky, making it to your gate. And in Vancouver. It’s a process that takes 30 minutes,” he explained.
“You clear US Customs and Immigration, including an automated border system that’s available now in Vancouver, and then you can land locally in destinations across the US.”
NDC due in October
Meanwhile, Naughton said Air Canada’s recently unveiled New Distribution Capabilities (NDC) Program would be available for Australian travel agencies and buyers in October 2023.
Naughton told Karryon AC’s NDC program would be different from what else is in the market, featuring new benefits, expanded content and additional trade support for agencies and travel buyers.
