The carrier announced on 8 April that one of its four daily Los Angeles-Toronto flights will be operated from 1 June with a Boeing 767-300ER configured with "its executive first service with lie-flat suites". An Air Canada spokesman says this is the first time the Star Alliance carrier has "put lie-flats on a regularly scheduled route in the transborder market".
Air Canada's lie-flat seat, which is now on board 53 of the carrier's 56 widebodies including 27 of its 30 767s, has typically only been available on long-haul services to Asia, Australia, Europe and South America.
The spokesman says Los Angeles-Toronto "is a strong business market for us; hence the decision" to up-gauge one of the flights to a 767-300ER from its long-haul fleet.
Air Canada now uses a mix of Airbus A319s, A320s and A321s on the route, according to Innovata. On the flight that will switch to the 767-300ER, which is a 9:10am departure from Toronto and a 12:40pm departure from Los Angeles, a 140-seat A320 is currently used.
The spokesman says 767-300ERs with lie-flat suites will be used year-round on this flight. Air Canada's refurbished 767-300ERs are configured with 211 seats including 24 lie-flat suites.
Air Canada claims it will be the only carrier in the Los Angeles-Toronto market offering a premium product that meets "international premium class standards". According to Innovata, American Airlines is the only other carrier operating non-stop flights between Los Angeles and Toronto. American currently operates one daily flight on the route with a Boeing 737-800.
Air Canada says the introduction of a widebody aircraft on one of its Los Angeles flights is part of a plan to increase capacity by 51% this summer on routes between Toronto and California.
(Brendan Sobie - FlightGlobal Aviation News)
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