Aircraft News Weblog

Category: Air Canada

  • Air Canada Rouge

    Only a month after Westjet launch their Regional Airline in June 2013, Air Canada are starting their new vacation airline from the hubs of Toronto and Montreal. The promise is the vacation starts as soon as you board the aircraft.

    Initially starting with surplus aircraft drawn from the Air Canada fleet, the growth of Rouge is reported to be linked to the introduction of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Air Canada which will free up more aircraft for the Rouge fleet. The total Rouge fleet will number 50 aircraft when complete and Air Canada are not anticipating delays in fleet growth due to the electrical problems the Dreamliner is experiencing at the moment.

    The key to Rouge succeeding in a highly competitive vacation market is by cutting costs, which the unions have agreed to, by paying the crews less than crews at Air Canada. Another economy is up to 20% more seats on the aircraft to increase the profit margin of every flight.

    For more information regarding Air Canada Rouge try this link, http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/rouge.html

  • Air Canada Low Cost Carrier

    Where is Air Canada going with the new low cost carrier they are launching? I don’t mean geographically but in terms of their competition. Is there a niche for a low cost airline operating out of Canada and who are they competing against for your travel dollars? How are they going to differ from the present airline? Well, when they come into service, using 50 aircraft of the present Air Canada fleet, there will be a lot more seats on the aircraft and lower pay for the employees to make the model work.

    The natural competition will be other Canadian based carriers operating to the Caribbean, US and Europe. This means Air Canada as well but this is nothing new for them. They are supplying their regional partner Sky Regional with Embraer aircraft on the corridor route between Toronto and Montreal which competes with Air Canada Jazz.

    The theory with the new low cost airline is to attract the type of passenger that wants to pay less than an Air Canada ticket for a flight to a vacation destination. They are hoping to remove passengers from Westjet, Air Transat, Canjet and other carriers that feed the holiday market.

    An announcement coming soon from Air Canada will give more details of the new airline.

  • Transport Canada Oversight

    Is it working?

    There have been comments in the press, and always will be after an incident, about the lack of oversight from Transport Canada (TC) on the airlines. I work in the industry and have seen the transition from the traditional TC inspections to the self regulating model that has been developed and introduced in the airlines.

    A few years ago the TC inspector responsible for the company would arrange an inspection that took several weeks and delved into all aspects of the organization. This would then result in some findings which would be corrected by the company and all would be well. All it really meant is that the company was off the hook for a few years before they had another inspection.

    The new approach in self regulation, is for the company to carry out continual process auditing which is reviewed by TC when they come calling. This puts the onus on the company to audit, record, correct and follow up to check for effectivity of the corrective actions. TC only have to monitor the results which are presented to them.

    I believe, if done correctly, the airline is safer and processes are inspected more often than the TC inspectors could manage and in greater detail. This should make for a safer environment for the traveler.

  • Internet in the Air

    American Airlines have broken new ground with the introduction of WI-FI computer access on selected flights over the US. It will be available above 10,000 feet and will cost $12.95 on flights of more than 3 hours. So instead of the movie we will all be tapping away at the laptop and surfing the Web.  Cell phone and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is still not allowed.

     

     

    “Today, U.S.air travel changes forever. With Aircell’s unique ATG in-flight Internet service, airlines finally have an economically viable option for providing the broadband connectivity passengers are demanding,” says Aircell President and CEO Jack Blumenstein.

     

    UPDATE

     

    Delta Airlines and Air Canada have also made announcements that they will be making broadband Internet access available on their flights.