The summer travel peak now in full swing across Canada leaves us little time for a party. But that doesn't mean Air Canada Rouge's fifth birthday is going unremarked: We are happily celebrating the accomplishments of our leisure airline, which has succeeded beyond all expectations.
Since launching on July I, 2013, Air Canada Rouge has grown from four aircraft serving a handful of destinations into a full-fledged carrier operating over SO aircraft on JOO-plus routes to locations on five continents. In its short life, it has already created 2,000 new jobs, mostly for young Canadians.
Air Canada Rouge is also fulfilling an important strategic role. Through its lower cost structure, it competes efficiently against other leisure or discount airlines, enabling us to thrive in vacation markets, such as winter sun destinations, where competition is fierce. It also allows us to go one better and open new markets from Canada, such as Porto, Bucharest and Zagreb. Air Canada Rouge has been central to our global expansion and is a key reason we have been able to launch 74 new routes to international and U.S. destinations since the start of 2016 alone.
The result is greater choice for vacation travellers, more than 25 million of whom have already flown on Air Canada Rouge. To make the choice easier, we designed Air Canada Rouge to exceed other leisure carriers in every respect. This includes offering on-board high-speed satellite Internet, a premium cabin, superior food, network connectivity and, through the extraordinary step of training our crews at Disney, unsurpassed customer service. All backed by Air Canada's reputation for safety and reliability.
As it begins its sixth year, Air Canada Rouge's mission will evolve. We are expanding its operations within Canada, including in regional markets, to provide customers more vacation choices and support the overall growth of Air Canada. It also equips us with an effective tool to compete against new, low-cost entrants in the Canadian marketplace.
If we sound like overly proud parents, it is because we are. Still, we know the ultimate reason for Air Canada Rouge's success is because our customers are choosing it for their travel - and for this, all of us at Air Canada say thank you.
Calin’s column appears every month in enRoute Magazine, Air Canada’s award-winning in-flight magazine found onboard all Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge and Air Canada Express flights. This edition is from the July 2018 issue.
