Air Canada Express first carrier to operate into re-opened airport

MONTREAL, June 10, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - With the arrival of Air Canada Express flight AC8371, the carrier's customers were the first to arrive at Fort McMurray International Airport today following the airport's re-opening to limited commercial scheduled flights.

"We extend a warm welcome to our Fort McMurray customers and in particular, to people   who are returning home. We also want to thank the employees of our Air Canada Express partner Jazz, the team at Fort McMurray International Airport, the first responders and the countless men and women who are working around the clock for their extraordinary efforts in assisting Fort McMurray, and for their tireless work in making the return to commercial air service possible today," said Kevin Howlett, Senior Vice President, Regional Markets & Government Relations at Air Canada.

"It's been our privilege to transport members of Team Rubicon, many other first responders and to transport medical supplies for Global Medic in our support for Fort McMurray. We are working closely with all partners involved to help get Fort McMurray residents back home as quickly, conveniently and comfortably as possible.

"To accommodate returning residents, we are actively adding capacity from cities across Canada to Alberta, and scheduling larger aircraft including our 400-seat Boeing 777 aircraft to Alberta.  We expect to ramp up to our full schedule in the coming weeks, once the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry operational restrictions for commercial airlines are lifted," concluded Kevin.

As our flight schedule to Fort McMurray is subject to change due to the Alberta government's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's commercial operating restrictions in place to ensure the safety of both active firefighting and commercial carriers using the airspace, we strongly recommend customers check the status of their flights prior to departing for the airport.

Additional customer information about tickets including a 25% discount off fares from across Canada to Edmonton, Calgary and Fort McMurray, travel information, as well as Air Canada's initiatives supporting Fort McMurray can be found at: https://www.aircanada.com/en/news/160504.html.

Air Canada normally operates up to two daily flights between Fort McMurray and Toronto, and up to 10 daily Air Canada Express flights between Fort McMurray and Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.

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 2015 served more than 41 million customers.  Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 64 airports in Canada, 55 in the United States and 87 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