Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC
Canada 3000 Airlines is positioning itself to become the country's second international carrier. It plans a major expansion in scheduled services and fleet size, following the recent takeover of Canadian Airlines by Air Canada.
Toronto-based Canada 3000 has unveiled plans to launch services to India, Japan and the Philippines, as well as to build on its charter services to Australia and the UK by adding scheduled flights. The expansion, if approved by the government, would require up to a 50% increase in the size of Canada 3000's fleet of 15 aircraft.
"Because of bilateral agreements, and because Canada's air routes on scheduled services have already been taken by the two major carriers, there has never been room for anybody else," says Canada 3000 president Angus Kinnear. "Now there is space to provide a level of competition and choice to the Canadian consumer."
Kinnear says that "the idea is not to fly wingtip to wingtip with Air Canada". The carrier wants instead to take advantage of bilaterals that allow a second carrier into major markets and has filed applications to fly scheduled services from Canada to Nagoya in Japan and to London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow in the UK. It has also requested rights to operate scheduled flights from Toronto and Vancouver to New Delhi, Manila, Sydney and Brisbane.
The airline argues that it would be "inappropriate" to leave Air Canada controlling a scheduled monopoly to Australia, Japan and the UK by virtue of its Canadian takeover. It contends further that Air Canada has dropped services to India twice and that Canadian, the designated carrier to the Philippines, operates only as a codeshare partner with Philippine Airlines.
Canada 3000 operates three leased Airbus Industrie A330-200s and will take a fourth in May. "I would estimate that this programme requires two more A330s over the next 12 months," says Kinnear.
He rules out operating aircraft larger than the A330 for now, but anticipates a doubling in the size of its A320 fleet to 12 aircraft within the two next years.
Source: Flight International
