MONTREAL, May 1, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Celebrations are being held at four airports across Canada today as Air Canada inaugurates new services between Vancouver-Osaka, Vancouver-Comox, Calgary-Nanaimo and Calgary-Halifax.

"We have strategically added new leisure services to our international and domestic Canada route network with our leisure carrier Air Canada rouge, and we continue to increase our Air Canada Express services to communities in Western Canada to meet demand. We are very pleased to inaugurate four new routes today including the only non-stop flights from Canada to Osaka which we expect to be particularly popular with Japanese visitors to Canada," said Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines at Air Canada.

"As Canada's largest airline with the most extensive network for connections, our new Osaka and domestic flights are timed to offer customers more choices and convenience when travelling, as well as the opportunity to accumulate and redeem Aeroplan miles," concluded Mr. Smith.

Up to five times weekly Vancouver-Osaka flights are operated by Air Canada rouge this summer with 280-seat Boeing 767-300ER aircraft offering a choice of premium and economy cabins. Up to ten weekly, seasonal Halifax-Calgary flights are operated by Air Canada rouge with 136-seat Airbus A319 offering a choice of premium and economy cabins.

Daily Nanaimo-Calgary and twice daily Comox-Vancouver flights are operated by Jazz Aviation LP under the Air Canada Express brand with 74-seat Bombardier Q400 and 50-seat Bombardier Dash 8-300 aircraft respectively.

Upcoming new routes which will be launching by this summer's peak include: Toronto-Amsterdam, Toronto-Austin, Toronto-Atlantic City, Toronto-Abbotsford, Montreal-Venice, Montreal-Mexico City and Calgary-Terrace.

About Air Canada
Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 190 destinations on five 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 64 Canadian cities, 52 destinations in the United States and 78 cities in Europe, the Middle East, 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 that ranked Air Canada in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers as Best Airline in North America in 2014 for the fifth consecutive year.  For more information, please visit: aircanada.com, follow @AirCanada on Twitter and join Air Canada on Facebook.

SOURCE Air Canada