New services offer more non-stop travel options and support international growth                   

MONTREAL, Nov. 19, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada announced today new non-stop services between four key Canadian hubs and 12 U.S. cities beginning next summer. The new transborder routes will introduce new destinations, such as Toronto-Washington-Dulles, Toronto-Salt Lake City and Vancouver-San Jose, while also creating new city-pair routings, such as Vancouver-Chicago, Montreal-Houston, Montreal-Denver and Calgary-San Francisco. To promote the new routes, Air Canada is offering special introductory fares; details are available on www.aircanada.com.

"Air Canada is the foreign carrier operating the most flights to the U.S., carrying the most customers and serving the most destinations. As such, we are pleased to strengthen our market presence, particularly as the U.S. is the top destination for Canadian travelers and Canada is one of the most popular destinations for Americans. For those traveling onward in the U.S. these new routes strengthen Air Canada's connections with major hubs of its partner United Airlines, including Houston, Denver, San Francisco and Washington-Dulles, giving customers more travel options and convenient connections throughout the U.S. and Latin America," said Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines, at Air Canada.

"These new routes will also support our international expansion by making it easier for international travelers flying to and from the U.S. to connect to Air Canada's global network through its major Canadian hubs. International travelers are increasingly finding that connecting through Canada on Air Canada is the most convenient way to fly to and from the U.S. and between the U.S. to both Europe and Asia. Not only do our hubs offer some of the shortest elapsed travel times, they also provide international travelers seamless connections and Air Canada's Four-Star service, featuring lie-flat seats in International Business Class, a Premium Economy cabin on select flights, and seatback In-Flight Entertainment throughout all aircraft. All flights provide for Aeroplan accumulation and redemption, Star Alliance reciprocal benefits and, for eligible customers, priority check-in, Maple Leaf Lounge access at our hubs, priority boarding and other benefits."

The new routes announced today will be operated by Air Canada mainline, Air Canada rouge and Air Canada Express aircraft. All routes will operate year-round except where indicated by (*).

¹ Flight operated by Air Canada Express;  ² Flight operated by Air Canada rouge.

About Air Canada 

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 200 airports on six continents.  Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2014 served more than 38 million customers.  Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 63 airports in Canada, 55 in the United States and 86 in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,321 airports in 193 countries.  Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax.  For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com, follow @AirCanada on Twitter and join Air Canada on Facebook.

SOURCE Air Canada