Air Canada rouge is an "airline within an airline", and is part of the Air Canada Leisure Group along with inclusive-tour operator, Air Canada Vacations. The airline is positioned as Air Canada's "Leisure" carrier, intended to get passengers to their vacation destinations. Air Canada rouge launched last July 1st with flights from Toronto (YYZ) and Montreal (YUL) to Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico, and the U.S.
Air Canada’s first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (C-GHPQ) had its initial test flight on April 22 at Paine Field (PAE), in Everett, Wash. The General Electric GEnx-1B-powered plane lifted off from Runway 16R at 4:03 p.m., in the shadow of Boeing’s massive widebody assembly plant. This initial test flight was unexpectedly short, and the plane returned to land at 4:22 p.m. The flight test crew then did a high-speed ground run northbound along Runway 34L before taxiing to the flightline ramp.
YVR-Vancouver International Airport’s first scheduled Boeing 787 service began Monday morning with the arrival of Japan Airlines Flight #18 from Narita Airport (NRT) in Tokyo. The Dreamliner landed a few minutes ahead of its scheduled 10 a.m. (PT) arrival time, and was greeted at the gate by officials from Japan Airlines, the Government of B.C., the Government of Japan, the Vancouver Airport Authority, and Boeing.
Bombardier’s CSeries aircraft successfully completed its first flight on Monday, September 16, 2013, landing at Montreal’s Mirabel Airport at 12:22 PM Eastern Time. The landing capped a 2 1/2 hour flight that began at 9:55 AM ET, with the jet taking off effortlessly from Runway 06. Bombardier Chief Test Pilot, Chuck Ellis and First Officer Andy Litavniks were at the controls, assisted by flight engineer Andreas Hartono. The CS100 Flight Test Vehicle 1 (FTV1) was shadowed by Bombardier’s Global 5000 chase plane. It was a cool, fall morning at the airport 25 miles north of Montreal, Quebec, with scattered clouds and brisk winds.
It's looking pretty busy at Air Canada (AC) and not just because they've launched their new "leisure airline," rouge. This summer, AC took delivery of the first two 777-300ERs from their latest five-plane order. When this order is completed, AC will have 17 -300ERs and 6 -200LRs in their international fleet. While AC's new 777s look standard on the outside, they are very different inside.
AvGeeks know that there are a few airplanes that are in the "Love ‘em, can’t replace ‘em!" category. The venerable Douglas DC-3 is one. Never duplicated, and still flying, even though the last DC-3 rolled off the assembly line in 1947. The deHavilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is another. Amazing Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) capability, twin bulletproof Pratt & Whitney Canada turboprops, decent cruise speed, has 19 seats, or it can carry a whack of cargo. But now, Victoria-based Viking Air has restarted production of the Twin Otter, as a new and improved airplane!
On Wednesday, Porter Airlines President Robert Deluce announced that his airline will be the Canadian launch customer for Bombardier’s next-generation jetliner, the CS100. The conditional order is for 12 CS100s, along with options for an additional 18 aircraft.
