Air Canada announces increased cargo capacity into and out of Vancouver

Air Canada has announced that it has significantly increased cargo capacity into and out of Vancouver between 21 to 30 November 2021 from its hubs in Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary as it works to ensure that the vital economic supply chain links in British Columbia (B.C.) are maintained following the impacts of last week’s flooding. In total, Air Canada is adding 586 tonnes of cargo capacity, representing 3,223m³ to support B.C.’s economic supply chain and the needs of its communities.

Jason Berry, Vice President, Cargo, at Air Canada said: “The economic supply chain is vital, and to help support the urgent transport of goods into and out of British Columbia, we have increased capacity to our YVR hub by using the flexibility of Air Canada’s fleet to reschedule 28 passenger flights from narrow-body aircraft to be operated with wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Boeing 777, and Airbus A330-300 aircraft. These changes will allow an additional 282 tonnes of goods to be moved across the country on our scheduled passenger flights.”

“Additionally, Air Canada Cargo will operate an additional 13 all-cargo flights between our Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary cargo hubs and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) using widebody aircraft, providing approximately 304 tonnes of additional capacity. These aircraft will help move mail and perishables such as seafood, as well as automotive parts and other industrial goods,” added Berry.

Air Canada is also working with its regional partner Jazz Aviation (Jazz) to provide additional regional cargo capacity by temporarily converting an Air Canada Express De Havilland Dash 8-400 from its normal passenger configuration into a special freighter configuration. This Dash 8-400 Simplified Package Freighter operated by Jazz can carry a total of 18,000lbs. (8,165kg) of cargo and will be deployed to transport critical goods, as well as consumer and industrial goods and will be in service as early as this week.

Last week, as the impact of the devastating floods became apparent, Air Canada quickly added capacity to the Air Canada Cargo network by substituting larger widebody aircraft on 14 passenger flights into Vancouver.

Additional capacity added for passengers

In addition to the extra cargo capacity, Air Canada had also increased the number of seats available for customers in Kelowna and Kamloops since 17 November 2021, adding approximately 1,500 seats into both communities by utilising larger aircraft on routes. This enabled people affected by the highway closures to fly into and out from these airports, and through the cargo capacity of these passenger aircraft, also allowed for the important transport of emergency medical supplies into these regions.

Air Canada continues to monitor the situation in British Columbia very closely and will adjust its passenger and cargo schedule accordingly.