Air Canada has been undergoing significant international expansion the past few years, largely made possible thanks to the range and size of the Boeing 787. Routes that weren’t previously feasible now make sense.
This expansion has occurred out of their three biggest hubs — Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver — and Air Canada has just announced their latest expansion out of Montreal.
As of June 1, 2018, Air Canada will be launching Boeing 787-8 flights between Montreal and Tokyo Narita. The flight will be operated daily in summer, and 3x weekly in winter. The flight will cover a distance of ~6,500 miles in each direction, and will operate with the following schedule:
AC5 Montreal to Tokyo Narita departing 2:05PM arriving 3:50PM (+1 day)
AC6 Tokyo Narita to Montreal departing 5:30PM arriving 4:30PM
The Air Canada 787 operating the route will feature 251 seats, including 20 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 210 economy seats. Business class on the 787 consists of reverse herringbone seats, which are among my favorite out there. I reviewed Air Canada’s longhaul business class last year from Toronto to Frankfurt and London to Toronto.
Air Canada just recently added flights from Montreal to both Shanghai and Tel Aviv, so this is their next longhaul expansion out of Montreal.
On top of that, Air Canada has added flights from Montreal to Marseille, Reykjavik, Algiers, Lima, Lyon, Casablanca, etc., over the past couple of years. That’s some impressive growth.
Montreal’s only other service to Asia is on Air China to Beijing and Qatar Airways to Doha, so this is the airport’s first service to Japan.
As noted by milesopedia, the other good news is that business class award availability on the route is wide open. Each flight that operates seems to have at least two business class award seats.
Just to give a few examples of business class award pricing with different Star Alliance programs, you can book the route one-way for:
- 75,000 Air Canada Aeroplan miles
- 75,000 Avianca LifeMiles
- 75,000 United MileagePlus miles
Aeroplan passes on carrier imposed surcharges on Air Canada redemptions, though the good news is that these fees are very low for flights to Japan. A one-way ticket booked through Aeroplan will just cost you 98CAD in fees.
That’s because the carrier imposed surcharges on the routing are just 43CAD.
Bottom line
Air Canada’s new Montreal to Narita flight is a nice addition for the airport, and is only the latest of Air Canada’s longhaul growth. If you’re looking to redeem miles, this route also has lots of business class award availability.
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