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Air Canada has announced that its leisure carrier subsidiary, Air Canada rouge, is expanding service to Hawaii with the introduction of new year-round non-stop flights between Toronto and Honolulu. The new route, offering the only non-stop service between Toronto and Hawaii, will begin Nov. 26, 2014. Flights will be operated using Air Canada rouge Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft offering a choice of two cabins with three choices of service, personal space and comfort. To promote the new route, Air Canada rouge is offering savings of 20 per cent on bookings made by June 10, 2014 for travel until April 30, 2015 using the promotion code “aloharouge.” Flights and optional Air Canada Vacations packages are available for purchase at aircanada.com.
“Hawaii has long been a very popular vacation destination for Canadians from coast to coast,” said Benjamin Smith, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Air Canada. “With the expansion of Air Canada rouge to Hawaii, we are delighted to introduce the only non-stop flights between Toronto and Hawaii. Flights are timed to provide convenient connections at our main Toronto hub for flights serving destinations throughout Air Canada’s extensive network. In combination with Air Canada Vacations, we are pleased to offer Canadians even more holiday choices.”
In addition, Air Canada announced that existing year-round non-stop service from Vancouver to Honolulu and Maui, currently operated by Air Canada, will be converted to daily Air Canada rouge Boeing 767-300 ER service effective Nov. 21 and Dec. 1, 2014, respectively.
As part of its Air Canada rouge winter schedule to Caribbean destinations, twice-weekly seasonal service from Toronto to St. Maarten, previously operated by Air Canada, will be converted to Air Canada rouge Boeing 767-300ER service effective December 20.
“Air Canada rouge is best suited to compete more cost effectively in markets where there is both a high leisure travel demand and low-cost competition. The expansion of our leisure carrier to Hawaii, in tandem with Air Canada’s mainline fleet renewal, is a key element of our strategy for sustainable, profitable growth at both airlines,” concluded Smith.
Air Canada will continue to evaluate future market opportunities as new aircraft are introduced into its mainline fleet and existing aircraft are released for operation by Air Canada rouge as market demand warrants. Since the launch in July 2013 of Air Canada rouge, Air Canada has deployed its leisure carrier to a growing number of Caribbean, European and select sun destinations in the United States.
Customers who have already booked travel to Hawaii directly through Air Canada on these routes converted to Air Canada rouge will be notified by email that their flight has been converted to Air Canada rouge. To mark the expansion of Air Canada rouge to Hawaii, the email includes a promotion code for 20 per cent off future travel on Air Canada and Air Canada rouge in North America including Hawaii and the Caribbean. The email also provides further information on Air Canada rouge, as well as the option to contact Air Canada Reservations at (844) 268-7290 for a full refund if the customer prefers to make a different travel choice to Hawaii. Customers who have booked through their travel agent would be notified by their travel agent who is also available to provide further information and options available to them.
With the addition of the Hawaii and St. Maarten routes, together with its previously announced summer 2014 schedule to Europe, the Caribbean and the United States, Air Canada rouge plans to operate a total of 58 routes by next winter, including service this summer to Barcelona, Dublin, Lisbon, Manchester, Nice and Rome.
