Air Canada continues to go ahead with expanding its network, restoring routes, and increasing the frequency of service to numerous destinations. Just in the last few months, we’ve seen new and restored service to Copenhagen, Houston, Miami, Osaka, Bangkok, and Mumbai, to name a few.
After recently announcing two new routes from Halifax–Newark and Vancouver–Houston, Air Canada has moved on to expand their European network to Brussels, Toulouse, and Copenhagen. The airline is also set to resume service and increase frequencies to Asia, South America, Australia, and the Middle East.
Air Canada’s New Toronto–Brussels Route
As of June 1, 2023, Air Canada will fly daily between Toronto and Brussels. This route is scheduled to operate year-round, and will fly in both directions on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.
Additionally, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, Air Canada will fly eastbound to Europe and on Mondays and Fridays, Air Canada will fly westbound back to Toronto.
The flight times are as follows:
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AC834 Toronto (YYZ) to Brussels (BRU), departing 6:20pm and arriving 7:45am the next day
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AC835 Brussels (BRU) to Toronto (YYZ), departing 10:15am and arriving 12:25pm
The flight will be operated by the three-cabin Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft with business class, premium economy, and economy cabins.
Air Canada’s Signature Class on international routes is a perfectly comfortable and reliable way to cross the Atlantic, and can even be surprisingly affordable when using eUpgrades.
Air Canada’s New Montreal–Toulouse Route
Air Canada will fly daily between Montreal and Toulouse as of June 1, 2023. Currently, the route is scheduled to operate throughout the year.
On Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays, the flight will operate in both directions. Furthermore, it will operate eastbound to Toulouse on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and on Tuesdays and Fridays, Air Canada will also fly westbound to Montreal.
The flight times are as follows:
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AC878 Montreal (YUL) to Toulouse (TLS), departing 7:30pm and arriving 8:45am the next day
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AC879 Toulouse (TLS) to Montreal (YUL), departing 1:15pm and arriving 3:20pm
The flight is currently set to operate with the Airbus A330, so hopefully it’s with the updated interior cabin matching Air Canada’s Signature Class 1-2-1 reverse herringbone seats. Of the sixteen A330s in Air Canada’s fleet, two have yet to be refurbished, and you’ll want to check the seat map and avoid a business class configuration of 1-1-1.
Flying to Toulouse is quite unique, as it will mark the only year-round service between North America and southwestern France.
Also set to launch as of June 1, 2023 out of Montreal is a seasonal summer route to Copenhagen, which was first announced a few months ago.
Air Canada Increases Frequencies
Throughout Summer 2023, the following routes will see increases in service from Toronto:
- Tokyo (HND): daily as of May 1, 2023
- Tokyo (NRT): from five times weekly to daily
- London (LHR): from three to four times daily
- Edinburgh (EDI): from six times weekly to daily
- Copenhagen (CPH): from three to five times weekly
- Barcelona (BCN): from five times weekly to daily
- Madrid (MAD): now five to six times weekly
- Dubai (DXB): from three times weekly to daily
From Montreal, the following frequencies are increasing:
- Tokyo (NRT): from twice weekly to daily
- Frankfurt (FRA): from twice daily to 19 per week through a Lufthansa joint venture
- Geneva (GVA): from six times weekly to daily
- Nice (NCE): from three to four times weekly
- Tel Aviv (TLV): from three to four times weekly
- Algiers (ALG): from three to four times weekly
- São Paulo (GRU): from three to five times weekly
Finally, the following frequencies are increasing from Vancouver:
- Brisbane (BNE): from four times weekly to daily
- Hong Kong (HKG): from three times weekly to daily
- Seoul (ICN): from five times weekly to daily
Booking Air Canada’s New Europe Flights
Aeroplan is the first program we look at for booking Air Canada flights, especially since Aeroplan has access to every single seat for sale on Air Canada flights.
All three new European flights fall under 4,000 miles in direct distance, so booking a flight with Aeroplan should cost around 60,000 Aeroplan points one-way in business class. At this price, the lowest-cost business class space must be available under the dynamic pricing model.
Indeed, these flights are already loaded and bookable in the Aeroplan search engine.
Pricing at the lower-end of the dynamic range in business class across all routes is exceedingly rare in both directions. With an early October 2023 flight, it’s possible to snag a one-way flight for around 60,000 points:
Meanwhile, Economy (Latitude) pricing is quite reasonable across the board. There appears to be eUpgrade space almost daily, so taking advantage of the “Latitude Attitude” would be a great way to save some points if you see high business class pricing.
Conclusion
As of June 1, 2023, Air Canada will be introducing three new routes: Toronto–Brussels, Montreal–Toulouse, and a seasonal Montreal–Copenhagen as announced previously.
For Aeroplan redemptions, the new routes rarely price out at the standard price in business class, other than in October 2023. However, there is plenty of eUpgrade space available, so upgrading your way to business class should be quite easy and reasonably priced.
Other than newly announced routes, Air Canada will also be increasing frequencies across the Asia-Pacific region, including destinations in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Australia.
