BRIAN DUNN / MONTREAL
Air Canada is to launch its no-frills carrier on 1 November under the brand name Air Canada Tango.
The much-anticipated division will operate services to eight Canadian cities from a Toronto hub, using a fleet of 13 Airbus A320s. The carrier will link Toronto with Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver and Winnipeg, and is aimed at taking traffic away from Canada 3000 with fares 80% below full economy tickets. Service will expand to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Florida in December.
A second discount carrier is planned by the Canadian flag carrier in the west of the country, which will take on Calgary-based WestJet, but no further details have been released. Low-cost carrier WestJet has reported weaker passenger traffic since the US terrorist attacks, but continues to expand. WestJet will add services between Winnipeg and Sault Ste Marie in December and between Kelona, British Columbia and Hamilton, Ontario in January. The airline reports that revenue passenger km has increased by 43.8% from a year earlier, but its capacity is up by 50.1%, resulting in a decline in its load factor to 73% from 76.2%.
Meanwhile, in a cost-cutting measure, Air Canada's Regional arm, which comprises Air Nova, Air Ontario, Air BC and Canadian Regional, has outlined plans to ground its entire fleet of jet aircraft by the end of 2002 and will only operate turboprops. It will ground 17 of its 29 jets within the next month. The Regional airline will also reduce available seat km by 24% within the next month.
Air Canada's winter schedule for regional services, effective as of 4 November, will see its Fokker F28 fleet more than halved from 19 aircraft to eight. The BAe 146 fleet will drop from 10 to four. The four 146s left will be withdrawn in January, and the remaining F28s, will be retired by the end of 2002. Regional's fleet will then consist of 87 Bombardier Dash 8s, and five Raytheon Beech 1900Ds.
Source: Flight International
