Air Canada used a Boeing 787 Dreamliner on its flights in the 2019-20 summer. Photo / Supplied
Air Canada this week picks up where it left off in the summer Covid-19 hit but is returning to Auckland with bigger planes and more services.
It is flying between Vancouver and Auckland four times a week initially, expanding this to five times a week later in summer and using a bigger plane than it did in 2019-20, adding about 55 per cent more seats.
The airline also hopes to extend its seasonal service to year-round, depending on the availability of aircraft and passenger demand, which it says is booming for the route. This has pushed up prices which it warns may not level off until next year. Fares booked now for around January 20 are just under $1100 one way in Economy. When the airline launched in 2019 a return fare with the same booking window was around $1550.
“Pricing has gone up but I think we are competitive,” said Air Canada’s general manager for Australia and New Zealand, Vic Naughton.
Demand for seats this summer outstripped that in its debut season when it flew four times a week throughout a shorter period using a Boeing 787-8 aircraft. This time it is using a larger 787-9 with 298 seats, 45 more than the smaller plane.
Naughton said the Auckland restart had been bumped up ahead of Melbourne, reflecting the airline’s eagerness to get back into the Kiwi market.
It competes with Air New Zealand which operates non-stop on the Auckland-Vancouover route three times a week now and from December 9 daily, also with 787-9s.
Air Canada’s announcement in March that it would return this summer was a morale booster for the battered travel industry still facing uncertainty over whether borders would reopen as planned.
“All our assumptions were we would go for it – there was obviously room (to) tweak it but we wanted to be first to show that commitment and get into the market asap. We definitely saw New Zealand as a big part of our international network,” said Naughton.
The Star Alliance airline had a big long-haul expansion in the decade before Covid-19 hit and with some notable exceptions – the still closed-off China market being one – it was rebuilding its international network as quickly as aircraft and staff availability allows.
Throughout its operations, it is flying at about 73 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity.
The planes that will fly to New Zealand this season were used on mainly European routes and some United States and domestic services during the Canadian summer.
“The seasonality of it made sense – Northern Hemisphere airlines are looking at where to deploy capacity when it’s off-season,” Naughton told the Herald.
The airline could base assumptions on the success of the pre-pandemic summer.
Air Canada wants to build a strong Pacific network, there are strong cultural ties between the two countries and both continued to be open and welcoming.
“There are a lot of Canadians wanting to come here at this time of the year for the warmer weather and vice-versa a lot of Kiwis want to go for the skiing.”
And there was still much pent-up demand which he said was proving resilient, even in the face of economic headwinds for countries and households.
“The way I see it, people, during Covid were spending their money elsewhere and obviously people are willing to invest a bit more in travel. They don’t need to buy their new TV or fridge anymore,” he said.
“It’s (demand’s) healthy going into the first quarter of next year. We’re not really seeing a slowdown either with what is going on in the world with the economy – we’re cautious but we’re seeing really good demand.”
Most of the traffic would be flying south out of Canada, a country of around 38.2 million.
In the last full year before the pandemic (to the end of September 2019), the number of arrivals from Canada was up 6.5 per cent to 74,000. Tourists from the country fit the tourism industry’s target. Canadian visitors are generally high-spending, stay for long periods and travel to the regions.
Air Canada has former Air NZ boss Rob Fyfe on its board and Naughton said there were similarities between the two airlines, which codeshare, and had signalled a deeper agreement before the pandemic.
“Air Canada is similar to Air New Zealand’s strategy – being next to big brother and trying to take some traffic from our neighbour.” To target higher-yielding international traffic the Canadian airline has been wresting “sixth freedom” passenger flows away from the US to Canada’s hubs.
Vancouver Airport is promoted as a seamless, hassle-free way of entering the United States where passengers can clear US Customs and Immigration and fly on from there as a domestic passenger.
This is done under one roof so passengers aren’t changing terminals and they don’t need to collect bags in transit.
Naughton said the 787-9 was fitted with the airline’s flagship product.
It has 247 seats in Economy with a 3-3-3 layout, 21 recliner seats in Premium Economy in a 2-3-2 layout, and 30 lie-flat Business Class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration.
In Economy, SeatGuru lists pitch (distance between seats) as being between 30 and 34 inches (76cm to 34cm) and they are 17 inches wide. (Air NZ has slightly wider seats at 17.2 inches in Economy - pitch doesn’t get under 31 inches).
Air Canada is trimming heavy losses. Its third-quarter results showed an operating margin of 12.1 per cent, its first positive quarterly operating margin since the pandemic began.
Operating revenues were C$5.3 billion, ($6.6b) - more than double the third quarter of 2021
The airline suffered a net loss of C$508 million compared to a net loss of C$640m in the third quarter of 2021. Air Canada had a staff of more than 30,000 pre-pandemic and is hiring more as quickly as it can after summer disruption exacerbated by labour shortages.
The airline grew its Australian operation to year-round before the pandemic and Naughton said he would like to see the same here.
“I would love us to have a flight year-round – I’m sure we’ll get to that in the future when we have more aircraft. I can’t wait for 2023 – after the two years we’ve had it’s great to talk positively again.”
Auckland Airport general manager customer and aeronautical commercial, Scott Tasker, said Air Canada would be operating with about 55 per cent more seat capacity than its previous 2019/2020 summer season.
“That’s a real vote of confidence from Air Canada, as a well-known and commercially successful global airline that has many opportunities to pursue..”
Auckland Airport estimates the economic contribution to New Zealand of Air Canada’s summer seasonal flights is $134 million, comprised of an estimated $68 million of inbound high-value visitor spend ($823,000 per arriving flight) plus $27 million of estimated high-value exports ($329,000 per flight) and an estimated $39 million of critical imports ($477,000 per flight).
The airline sold its last slots at Heathrow in 2020.