Air Canada to introduce non-stop Montréal-Brussels service

[sn26567]

Air Canada today announced that it will introduce year-round non-stop service between Montreal and Brussels, with same-plane service continuing on to/from Toronto. Flights will begin daily, subject to government approval, in time for summer peak travel on June 12, 2010. Flights on the new Brussels route are timed to offer travellers convenient connections to Air Canada's extensive North America network via the carrier's Montreal hub to and from: Toronto (same plane), Ottawa, Québec City, Halifax, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Washington and New York. In Brussels, connecting flights will be available with future Star Alliance partner Brussels Airlines to/from several European and African destinations including Toulouse, Lyon and Marseilles, France; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Dakar, Senegal; Douala, Cameroun; Bologna and Milan, Italy; and Porto, Portugal.

"The introduction of the only year-round non-stop service between Montréal and Brussels, headquarters of the European Commission and Parliament, and other international organizations, is great news for customers travelling on business, for leisure as well as freight forwarders," said Marcel Forget, Vice President, Network Planning. "Air Canada's new direct non-stop Brussels service will offer more choice for convenient international travel via our Montreal hub providing easy access to several destinations in Europe and Africa."

Wilfried Van Assche, CEO of Brussels Airport applauds this news: "Both our business and leisure passengers will be delighted with the year-round Air Canada service between Montreal and Brussels. The daily connection will be an asset to the strong links between Belgium and Quebec. This service could not have come at a better time for Canadian passengers as well: they will now fully enjoy an attractive Star Alliance network from Brussels to Europe and Africa."

"Aéroports de Montréal applauds this new non-stop service as it increases Montréal-Trudeau's appeal as an efficient hub between Europe and North America" said James Cherry, president and CEO.

By next summer Air Canada will offer non stop service between Montréal and six European gateway cities including London, Paris, Frankfurt, Geneva and Rome. As well, Air Canada's Star Alliance partners Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines offer service from Montréal to Munich and Zurich respectively, further increasing connections and travel options.

Air Canada will operate the new Montreal-Brussels non-stop service using newly refurbished 211-seat Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft offering a choice of Economy Class and Executive First service featuring 24 lay flat bed suites.

Further details and a virtual tour of Air Canada's new cabin amenities including personal seatback entertainment are available at: http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/ ... mfort.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flight Depart Arrive Depart Arrive
Toronto Montréal Montréal Brussels
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
AC832 17:00 18:15 19:40 08:40 (+1)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flight Depart Arrive Depart Arrive
Brussels Montréal Montréal Toronto
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
AC833 10:45 12:25 14:00 15:15
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Montréal-based Air Canada provides scheduled and charter air transportation for passengers and cargo to more than 170 destinations on five continents. Canada's flag carrier is the 13th largest commercial airline in the world and serves 33 million customers annually. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, providing the world's most comprehensive air transportation network for Canadian domestic, transborder and international travel. Air Canada aircraft offer customers individualized seatback in-flight entertainment systems with hundreds of hours of digital audio-visual entertainment. As well, customers can collect Aeroplan miles for future rewards through Canada's leading loyalty program.

In 2008, the readers of Business Traveler magazine voted Air Canada "Best In-Flight Services in North America," "Best Airline for Business Class Service in North America" and "Best North American Airline for International Travel."

Air Canada press release MONTREAL, Aug. 20, 2009

[sn26567]

A missed opportunity for Brussels Airlines to launch the route with its own metal. A new codeshare in view!

With such a competition, will Air Transat continue to fly the route?

[RoMax]

SN need to focus on AFI in the first place, so an codeshare with Air Canada is really good. When SN gets a new plane they need to use that for AFI, if they want to fly to Montreal this would be something for over 5 years or so. Conclusion this is a wonderfull route for Air Canada AND for Brussels Airlines, Air Canada feed their AFI network and their European network.
I don't think Air Transat will continou their seasional flights because the most passengers take connections to other destinations (Africa, ...) and with Air Canada their are much better connections.