I looked at the Air Canada route map and there are nonstops to Tokyo, London, and Frankfurt-- pretty impressive for a medium-size city. Portland, a roughly similar size city, had a very difficult time maintaining its trans-oceanic (Tokyo, Amsterdam, Frankfurt) service and had to offer the carriers subsidies. It would be interesting to see if Calgary can compete against DEN and Salt Lake and the US west coast airports for connecting international traffic, especially with the 787, since this aircraft was designed for medium-sized cities such as Calgary.
Air Canada Tries New Approach
Carrier Is Pushing Toronto, Other Canadian Hubs as Transfer Points for U.S. Travelers
By CAROLINE VAN HASSELT
Wall Street Journal
5/3/2011
"TORONTO—Air Canada has embarked on a campaign to persuade American business travelers to travel through Toronto and other Canadian hubs to Asia.
The strategy is the latest chapter in Chief Executive Calin Rovinescu's two-year effort to turn around the once-beleaguered airline, Canada's dominant carrier and North America's fifth-largest by traffic. Part of that effort involves promoting Air Canada in the transshipment business: moving passengers from one country, through a so-called gateway nation, to a third country.
Air Canada's strategy targets secondary U.S. markets, such as Boston and Cleveland. Above, an Air Canada plane prepares to land at Toronto Pearson International Airport, which is key to the airline's turnaround.
The move targets secondary U.S. markets, such as Boston, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, that don't have nonstop service to Asia. In some cases, Toronto has better weather and less congestion than the U.S. airports travelers might choose for their trans-Pacific flights..."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj