DUBLIN GOES ROUGE IN 2014

Air Canada says that its current seasonal service between Toronto and Dublin, Ireland will be converted to year-round service operated by its new leisure carrier, Air Canada rouge, beginning in 2014. AC will operate the route this year from May 17 through to Sept. 30, 2013 and then Air Canada rouge will commence year-round service starting May 1, 2014. Bookings on the new Air Canada rouge service will become available starting in June 2013 on http://www.aircanada.com and through travel agents. Ben Smith, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer at Air Canada, said that: “Air Canada has been serving Ireland since its predecessor, Trans-Canada Air Lines, first flew to Shannon in 1947. Today, there is a very strong market for both leisure customers and visiting friends and relatives, so this is an ideal market for our new leisure carrier, Air Canada rouge, to operate more cost effectively on a year-round basis.” Smith pointed out that: “This is the fourth European destination announced for Air Canada rouge, which will begin flying this July to Edinburgh, Venice and Athens in addition to a number of Caribbean destinations. We intend to grow Air Canada rouge quickly from four aircraft to 32 aircraft by the end of 2014 and 42 aircraft by the end of 2015.” Air Canada rouge’s July 1 launch network also includes eleven destinations in the Caribbean. Its start-up fleet consists of two Airbus A319 aircraft and two Boeing 767-300ER aircraft that will grow to 10 aircraft by the end of 2013. Go to http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/rouge.html for more.