The addition of a third cargo jet will enable Air Canada to expand freighter service to the United States and Latin America.
Air Canada’s cargo division announced Thursday that Dallas and Atlanta, plus Bogota, Colombia, will be added to the fledgling freighter network in November. The new routes from the Toronto hub are timed with the arrival of the airline’s third converted Boeing 767-300 freighter, a spokesperson said.
The Canadian flag carrier will operate three flights per week to each city. The frequency will increase to four times per week for Atlanta and Bogota at the start of the new year, the representative said.
“These additional routes allow us to expand the reach of our freighter network to key U.S. markets, and conveniently connect cargo in the USA to Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific with our freighter service” to better serve shippers, said Matthieu Casey, managing director, commercial, at Air Canada Cargo, in a statement.
Air Canada made a strategic decision during the pandemic to diversify its business by focusing more heavily on cargo and e-commerce to capitalize on long-term growth trends. It is sending eight retired 767 passenger jets to Israel Aircraft Industries for overhaul into main-deck freighters, complete with a wide cargo door and a ruggedized cabin.
Two of the planes are already in service.
Routes from Toronto include Miami to Quito, Ecuador, and Lima, Peru, three times per week and Halifax, Nova Scotia, six times per week. From Toronto and Halifax, Air Canada flies three times per week to Madrid, twice a week to Frankfurt, Germany, and once a week each to Cologne, Germany, and Istanbul.
CEO Michael Rousseau said last month the airline should have four or five 767 freighters by the first quarter of 2023.
In August, Air Canada (OTCUS: ACDVF) announced it had acquired two factory-built 767 freighters from Boeing, scheduled to enter service in 2023, and ordered two large 777 freighters for delivery in 2024.
Executives say the freighters allow the airline to provide more consistent capacity and cargo-focused routes than by simply relying on the passenger network.
Air Canada Cargo recently integrated its back-end systems with CargoWise, a logistics execution platform, to allow freight forwarders that use the system direct access to the airline’s schedules, rates, capacity and inventory.
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
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