Air Canada Announce Vancouver – Melbourne Services

This is fantastic news! – Canada’s home carrier, Air Canada has announced that they will operate seasonal services to Melbourne, Australia starting at the end of the year. Early last year I was told by a contact that the carrier was working on Melbourne so it’s good to see it confirmed.

The carrier today announced 6 new destinations. Melbourne, Orlando, Phoenix, Lima, Belize and St.Vincent were the routes that were announced. As I briefly mentioned, the service will be seasonal and run during our summer holidays (December 3rd – February 4th 2018). The airline will use their 787-9 aircraft which is the same aircraft they use on the Brisbane route. Air Canada also operate a 777-200LR to Sydney and that’s a daily service.

Air Canada’s 787 features 30 B/E Super Diamond Business Class suites configured in a 1-2-1 layout. The product is the exact same one that Virgin Australia use but they obviously have different furnishings etc.

Air Canada 787-9 Business Class (Image – Air Canada)

The aircraft also features 21 Premium Economy seats which are in a 2-3-2 configuration. Each seat has 7” of reline, a pitch of 38” and a width of 19.5”.

Air Canada 787-9 Premium Economy Class (Image – Air Canada)

And lastly, the aircraft features 247 Economy seats that are in a 3-3-3 configuration. Each seat has 5” of recline, a pitch of 31” and a width of 17.3”.

Air Canada 787-9 Economy Class (Image – Air Canada)

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on how to travel to Canada with points from Australia, If you haven’t seen that post I would recommend reading it for more detail. There are a few ways to redeem for Air Canada and these are the best programs to use for their flights. These rates are for Business Class but if you’re wanting to know the rates for Premium and Economy, use the Milez.Biz calculator.

• Aeroplan charge 80,000 points one-way
• Avianca Lifemiles charge 80,000 points one-way
• United MileagePlus charge 80,000 points one-way
• Singapore Airlines Krisflyer charge 97,500 points one-way

Last year Virgin Australia and Air Canada announced a partnership which will include codeshare services and reciprocal benefits for Aeroplan and Velocity. However, we haven’t heard any details about it so far so I assume there should be more details about it soon. Once the partnership is in place, you should be able to redeem Velocity points on Air Canada flights which will be much easier for Australian travellers.

Will you fly on Air Canada’s new Melbourne Service?