Revised agreement supports Canadian flag carrier's goal of international
expansion
MONTREAL, July 4, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada welcomes today's
announcement by the Canadian Government of an amended bilateral air
services agreement between Canada and The People's Republic of China.
"Air Canada applauds these changes to the bilateral and we thank the
Canadian and Chinese governments for their hard work to expand the
agreement. Air Canada fully supports the liberalization of air services
between Canada and China, which is Canada's second largest trading
partner and a key market for our airline," said Ben Smith, Executive
Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Air Canada. "This summer
Air Canada has already added a total of seven weekly return flights to
Beijing from Toronto and Vancouver, raising the number of Air Canada
return flights to Beijing and Shanghai to 35 per week. The enhanced
bilateral further expands opportunities for Air Canada to extend its
coverage of cities in China in cooperation with our Star Alliance
partners Air China and Shenzhen Airlines. These changes will also
support our international expansion, which we intend to accelerate as
five new Boeing 777-300 aircraft start entering service in our fleet
this month and the first of 37 Dreamliners begin arriving in early
2014."
About Air Canada
Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline
serving more than 175 destinations on five continents. Canada's flag
carrier is the 15th largest commercial airline in the world and in 2012
served close to 35 million customers. Air Canada provides scheduled
passenger service directly to 59 Canadian cities, 53 destinations in
the United States and 67 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia,
Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Air Canada is a
founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air
transportation network serving 1,328 destinations in 195 countries.
Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America
to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research
firm Skytrax that ranked Air Canada in a worldwide survey of more than
18 million airline passengers as Best Airline in North America in 2013
for the fourth consecutive year. For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com.
SOURCE: Air Canada
Isabelle Arthur (Montréal) 514 422-5788
Peter Fitzpatrick (Toronto) 416 263-5576
Angela Mah (Vancouver) 604 270-5741
Internet: aircanada.com
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