Air Canada Rouge

Air Canada Rouge
IATA ICAO Callsign
RV ROU ROUGE
Founded December 2012[1]
Hubs
Frequent-flyer program Aeroplan
Airport lounge Maple Leaf Lounge
Alliance Star Alliance
Fleet size 45
Destinations 49
Parent company Air Canada Vacations Group
Website flyrouge.com
Air Canada rouge A319 at Montreal-Mirabel

Air Canada rouge is a Canadian leisure airline based in Toronto.[2] The carrier is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Canada and is fully integrated into the Air Canada mainline and Air Canada Express networks. Flights are sold with AC flight numbers, but are listed as "operated by Air Canada rouge" (similar to regional flights operated under the Air Canada Express banner). Rouge means "red" in French.

History

The airline was launched in December 2012 and began services on July 1, 2013. It is part of the Air Canada Leisure Group. At the time of the launch it had a fleet of four aircraft, 2 Airbus A319s and 2 Boeing 767s, transferred from the parent company. Its fleet expanded to 28 aircraft within 18 months and is expected to reach 16 Boeing 767s, 20 Airbus A319s and 5 Airbus A321s by mid-2016.[3]

On March 24, 2014, Air Canada announced plans for Air Canada rouge to expand into Western Canada beginning in spring 2014, to serve predominantly leisure markets from Vancouver and Calgary to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Palm Springs, Honolulu, Maui and Anchorage.[4]

A seasonal service from Vancouver to Osaka/Kansai started in May 2015.[3]

Destinations

Air Canada rouge serves predominantly leisure destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Central America, Mexico and the United States. Destinations in Europe include London Gatwick, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Venice, Athens, Lisbon, Dublin, Nice, Barcelona, Rome, Budapest, Warsaw, Casablanca and Manchester. Destinations in the Caribbean include Cuba, Jamaica, Curaçao, Haiti, the Bahamas, Grenada, Barbados, St. Maarten, and the Dominican Republic. As of the Summer 2015 Air Canada rouge plans to expand within Canada, servicing summer flight between Calgary - Halifax, Toronto - Kelowna, Toronto - Abbotsford and service between Toronto - Sydney NS.

In December 2015 new routes were announced including Toronto to Miami, Fort Myers, Charlottetown, and Deer Lake Montreal to Miami will now be year round and Mexico City Vancouver to San Diego and Calgary to Phoenix, which will now be year-round.[5]

Fleet

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER at Kansai International Airport

The Air Canada rouge fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of April 2016).[6]

Air Canada rouge Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers[7] Notes
P R Total
Airbus A319-100 20 — 12 124 136
Airbus A321-200 5 — 16 184 200
Boeing 767-300ER 20 5 24 258 282
Total 45 5


The Air Canada rouge Airbus A319 has 16 more seats than a regular Air Canada Airbus A319,[8] with 136 seats. The first four rows being for rouge Plus and Premium rouge passengers.[3] The Air Canada rouge Boeing 767-300ER carries 71 more passengers than most regular Air Canada Boeing 767-300ER aircraft,[8] with 282 seats. Of these 223 are economy, 35 rouge Plus and 24 Premium rouge.[3] The 29-inch seat pitch is one of the smallest in North America, resulting in less leg room than on most other comparable aircraft. [9]

Air Canada rouge is equipped with a wireless streaming entertainment system, called player, that passengers can use directly on their personal devices, such as Apple iOS and Android devices, as well as laptops. The streaming system only works on Apple devices if the Air Canada application is downloaded prior to the flight, android users can now download the app prior to departure or while in flight from the on-board server. Laptop use requires the Flash plug-in. iPads are available for rental to Economy Class passengers for a cost of $10 and are complimentary for Premium Rouge customers. The rental iPads are loaded with games, as well as premium content on the player plus app.

Baggage policy is the same as Air Canada's, and catering is complimentary on flights to/from Europe and Asia, with a buy-on-board offering on all other flights in line with the mainline service. Premium Rouge food and beverages are complimentary. Air Canada's mainline economy class fare services (Tango, Flex and Latitude) as well as full-fare and discounted Business Class apply to the new carrier with some adjustments.

References

  1. ↑ meet Air Canada rouge. aircanada.com, retrieved 27 July 2015
  2. ↑ aircanada.com - All systems go for Air Canada rouge start up July 1
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Applying rouge". Airliner World: 88–96. March 2015.
  4. ↑ newswire.ca - Air Canada rouge Expands to Western Canada
  5. ↑ "Introducing new Air Canada rouge routes: summer 2016 - Book at aircanada.com". www.aircanada.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  6. ↑ "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register". Transport Canada. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  7. ↑ aircanada.com - Our Fleet
  8. 1 2 Aircraft Summary. seatguru.com, retrieved 27 July 2015
  9. ↑ "SeatGuru Seat Map Air Canada Airbus A319 (319)". www.seatguru.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, May 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.