As part of Air Canada’s 2024 Investor Day, the carrier plans a major shake up to downside and simplify its fleet by 2028.
For starters, its low-cost subsidiary Air Canada Rouge will soon move towards an all-Boeing 737 MAX fleet. All 41 units operating under the mainline Air Canada name will be transferred over the next three years, and the remaining 12 deliveries will go straight to Rouge.
Rouge will also retire its entire Airbus fleet over the next few years. At the moment, the LCC comprises of 18 Airbus A319s, five A320s and 18 A321s. Air Canada will also phase out its A319s and A320s from its mainline fleet over the same time period, leaving them with their new A220s and retrofitted A321s.
They are also expecting delivery of 30 Airbus A321XLRs starting in Q3 2025. These XLRs will be used on a number of transatlantic flights, and even have the potential of serving certain markets in North and West Africa.
Over the past four years, the carrier has retired 56 older aircraft, and by 2028, their fleet lineup will look something like this:
Air Canada
- Boeing 777s
- Boeing 787s
- Airbus A330s
- Airbus A321s (ceo and XLR)
- Airbus A220s
Air Canada Rouge
- Boeing 737 MAX 8s
Air Canada Express
- Embraer E175s
- Bombardier CRJ 900s
- Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s
On top of Rouge becoming an all-MAX operator, Air Canada also plans to deploy a new Rouge crew base out of Vancouver, which will serve various regions including Hawaii, Alaska, and coast to coast coverage within the United States.
Air Canada’s MAXs currently seat 169 passengers split between 16 in business class and 153 in economy. Like its Airbus counterparts, it’s very likely Air Canada will try to squeeze in some more seats to offset potentially lower ticker prices.
The 20% lower cost per available seat mile (CASM) fits right in with the low cost operations versus its older A320ceo family of aircraft.
The mainline brand also plans to enter the ultra long haul market some time in 2030 and beyond, but did not specify what aircraft type they’re looking at. Given the current options, maybe they may go with Boeing 787-9s or the A350-900/1000 fleet configured for longer operations.
Featured image: Bradley Wint/Gate Checked
