TORONTO, March 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Air Canada today announced that it will continue to expand its transborder network with the start up of two new daily non-stop services to the United States from its main Toronto hub. Effective June 2, 2006 the carrier will introduce daily non-stop service serving Salt Lake City using 75-seat Bombardier CRJ-705 aircraft operated by Air Canada Jazz. Then on July 1st Air Canada will offer the only non-stop service to San Diego from Toronto with the re-introduction of daily non-stop service using 120-seat Airbus A319 aircraft. With the addition of these two new routes, Air Canada will operate more than 236 flights per day to and from Toronto and 43 destinations in the United States.
"The addition of daily non-stop services via our Toronto hub to Salt Lake City and San Diego is great news for business and leisure travellers seeking value and convenience," said Ben Smith, Vice President, Network Planning. "Our new service to Salt Lake City will be timed to offer convenient connections in Toronto with our flights to and from all major European gateway cities. In addition, we are pleased to announce our return to San Diego from Toronto after having recently introduced brand new Vancouver-San Diego non-stop service. Toronto-San Diego flights will be timed to offer convenient connections to our extensive network serving Eastern and Atlantic Canada. We will continue pursuing new market opportunities that leverage our global network via our Toronto hub as we renew our North American fleet and offer customers competitive and comfortable service with the most comprehensive network of any carrier serving the Canada-U.S. market."
Toronto-Salt Lake City: AC8109 departs Toronto at 18:20, arriving in Salt
Lake City at 20:50. AC8108 departs Salt Lake City at 09:00, arriving in
Toronto at 14:45.
Toronto-San Diego: AC779 departs Toronto at 09:10, arriving in San Diego
at 11:28. AC780 departs San Diego at 12:15, arriving in Toronto at 19:48.
The CRJ-705 aircraft feature all-leather seating and are configured in two classes of service with 10 window or aisle seats in Executive Class offering 37 inches of legroom, and 65 window or aisle seats in Hospitality service offering an industry leading 34 inches of legroom. All seats will be equipped with Air Canada's new in-seat personal entertainment system. The Bombardier CRJ-705 aircraft has a cruising speed of 880 km/h and a range of more than 3,500 km with a total payload of 7,778 kg including a cargo payload of 700 kg. Air Canada Jazz operates a fleet of 15 CRJ-705s.
Air Canada operates more non-stop flights between Canada and the U.S. than any other airline. Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and its commercial partners operate more than 385 non-stop daily flights on 85 routes to and from 51 U.S. and 7 Canadian destinations. Air Canada extends its network within the United States even further with its Star Alliance partner, United Airlines. In 2005, an independent survey of more than 12 million international air travellers ranked Air Canada as the Best Airline in North America.
