Just three months after re-launching Vancouver to Brisbane services, Air Canada is expanding to daily flights from 2023.
The airline returned Dreamliner flights to Brisbane in July of this year with 4 services per week. From June, it will expand to 7 services per week.
“This will mean Air Canada’s capacity into Brisbane is greater than pre-COVID. This is a great sign of the recovery and firmly places Queensland as a destination of choice for the North American market in time for their summer period,” according to Gert-Jan de Graaff, CEO of Brisbane Airport Corporation.
The daily Air Canada services will deliver almost 109,000 one-way seats into Queensland each year, with the Tropical North, Brisbane, Gold Coast, The Whitsundays and Sunshine Coast popular with Canadians. The expansion has been made possible through the $200m Attracting Aviation Investment Fund which is a joint airport and Queensland Government initiative to build the international visitor economy.
Tourism minister Stirling Hinchliffe said Canada was important to the recovery of Queensland’s international visitor economy.
“Before the pandemic, Canada was the State’s eleventh largest source of tourism visitors with 67,000 Canadian holidaymakers spending up to 18 days in Queensland,” Hinchliffe said.
“We can’t wait to see more Canadians coming out of the cold and living it up with world-class visitor experiences in the Sunshine State.”
The airline is Canada’s flag carrier, and services more than 200 airports across six continents. Air Canada is among the world’s top 20 largest airlines, and now partners with Virgin Australia. That means Virgin Australia’s eight million Velocity Frequent Flyer members can now earn Velocity Points and Status Credits and redeem on eligible flights with Air Canada between Brisbane and Vancouver and beyond.
“Air Canada has seen strong demand for the Vancouver – Brisbane service since its recommencement in July and is excited to add these additional frequencies with the support of the Queensland Government to bring our operations back beyond their full pre-covid level with these daily flights commencing from northern summer next year,” said Vic Naughton, Air Canada’s Australian and New Zealand general manager.
The increase in flights is also great news for Queensland’s exporters, who can land their products directly into North America. Imports from Canada are also critical to Queensland’s mining and transport industries.
Air Canada will use Boeing 787-9s on the flights, a change from 2019 when it used Boeing 787-8s on the service.
From June 2023 daily services will depart Vancouver at 2245 and arrive in Brisbane at 0640
Flights will depart Brisbane daily at 1015 and arrive in Vancouver at 0650.
