Flights to Vancouver are here to stay thanks to Air Canada’s new year-round service.
Air Canada’s flights from Melbourne will operate three times per week at 9:40am on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays arriving into Vancouver at 7:35am local time on the same day.
The inbound service will depart Vancouver at 10:45pm on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and arrive into Melbourne two days later at 8:00am. The airline also plans to introduce a fourth frequency at the end of the year.
Melbourne Airport Chief of Aviation Simon Gandy said he is delighted in Air Canada’s decision to operate all year round as part of Melbourne’s network offering.
“It’s fantastic to have Air Canada flying regularly between Melbourne and Vancouver as we know it has been an extremely popular route with Victorians ever since the service launched seasonally, and it’s great to be able to welcome Canadians to our wonderful city all year round,” said Mr Gandy.
“The non-stop route not only opens up the Canadian market but also creates a new entry point into the US-east coast to places like New York and beyond.”
“Air Canada’s passengers can also benefit from the streamlined connection into the US, as travellers are granted with US preclearance through US Customs and Boarder Protection before departing Vancouver Airport. This is a huge advantage for Victorians who get to save time and avoid stress often associated with travelling through immigration.”
Air Canada General Manager Vic Naughton said he was pleased to see demand for the new Melbourne-Vancouver service – operated by the airline’s state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft – extend well beyond Victoria, with strong support from across Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia.
“That means the addition of Melbourne is giving more Australians than ever before the opportunity to experience our award-winning service and see for themselves why Air Canada has been named the Best Airline in North America for six of the past eight years,” says Naughton.
Mr Gandy said one of the benefits of Melbourne Airport is its single-terminal precinct.
“Melbourne Airport is Australia’s busiest 24/7 airport handling more than 40 per cent of the nation’s domestic network each day. With such high volume having our domestic and international terminals adjacent means we are able to offer some of the lowest minimum connection times in Australia,” said Mr Gandy.
“Our vast domestic offering and low minimum connection time means that Air Canada’s service is able to offer significant choice for inbound passengers to connect from its long haul flight to numerous Australian destinations. On the reverse, residents in other states can easily fly into Melbourne and connect to the Vancouver flight seamlessly.
“On behalf of Melbourne Airport I congratulate Air Canada on their success and gladly welcome them into the Melbourne Airport community.”
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For further information please contact Melbourne Airport media on +61 3 9335 3666.