Air Canada to use Dreamliner for new Tokyo route

Air Canada will launch a brand new service to Tokyo next year, following the arrival of its fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners. From 1 July 2014, the national carrier will commence flights connecting Toronto with Tokyo Haneda Airport, aboard the 251-seat Dreamliner. The new route will become the only direct flight between Canada and Haneda – Japan’s busiest airport – and will mark the first deployment of Air Canada’s B787 in the Asian market. The daily flights will depart Toronto’s Pearson International Airport at 1300, arriving at Haneda at 1455 the next day. The return service will leave the Japanese capital at 1740, getting back into Toronto at 1640. Tickets go on sale on 10 December 2013. “Air Canada is very pleased to offer customers, especially business travellers to Japan, the option of flying to Tokyo Haneda airport aboard our new 787 Dreamliner,” said the national carrier’s executive vice president & chief commercial officer, Ben Smith. “Located less than 30 minutes by monorail from Tokyo’s central business district, Tokyo Haneda is Japan’s busiest airport and is popular with travellers going into the city. Moreover, with North America’s only daytime flight to Tokyo Haneda, the schedule is convenient for those who want to maximize productivity during their trip. It will also further strengthen our Toronto global hub, whose easy connection processes and shorter elapsed flying times make it ideal for travellers to and from the US northeast,” he added. Air Canada will begin taking delivery of 37 Dreamliners in spring 2014, deploying the first three aircraft on domestic and trans-Atlantic routes on a temporary basis. The first regular scheduled deployment of the aircraft will be on the Toronto-Tel Aviv route. Last week, Air Canada released details of the brand new in-flight products it intends to offer aboard the new aircraft, including full flat-bed seats in business class, power sockets and USB ports in all seats, and freshly-brewed coffee. The B787s will be configured in a three-class layout with 20 business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, 21 seats premium economy seats in a 2-3-2 configuration, and 210 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. The Toronto-Haneda route will run alongside Air Canada’s existing flights to Tokyo Narita Airport from Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Source: Travel Daily