Air Canada has an incredible long haul route network, and I’d say along with United Airlines, it has the most global reach of any North American carrier. The airline has just announced its newest destination in Asia, and it’s one that I find to be particularly awesome!
In this post:
Air Canada adds seasonal Vancouver to Sapporo route
In the winter 2026-2027 season, Air Canada will launch a new 3x weekly flight between Vancouver (YVR) and Sapporo (CTS). This route will run from December 17, 2026, through March 25, 2027, and it will be the only nonstop flight between North America and the Japanese ski destination of Hokkaido. The route will operate with the following schedule:
AC55 Vancouver to Sapporo departing 1:25PM arriving 3:35PM (+1 day)
AC54 Sapporo to Vancouver departing 7:55PM arriving 11:10AM
The service will operate westbound on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and eastbound on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The 4,288-mile flight is blocked at 9hr10min westbound and 8hr15min eastbound. Fun fact — this will be the shortest “true” transpacific route with regularly scheduled passenger service.
Air Canada will use a Boeing 787-8 for this flight, featuring 255 seats. This includes 20 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 214 economy seats.
Here’s how Air Canada’s Chief Commercial Officer, Mark Galardo, describes this new service:
“Air Canada’s global network is further strengthened by the addition of Sapporo, a premier winter leisure destination in Japan’s northern Hokkaido prefecture. With this new service, Air Canada is reinforcing its Vancouver hub as North America’s second largest Pacific gateway, building on strong premium leisure and ongoing travel demand to Japan, while providing yet another sought-after destination for our customers and Aeroplan Members. Whether people are avid snow enthusiasts, cultural or culinary connoisseurs, or global explorers, Air Canada’s new service will make discovering Japan’s vibrant northern regions more convenient than ever.”
“Leveraging Vancouver’s geographic proximity, Air Canada’s new flights provide the fastest way to reach Sapporo, saving more than two hours travel time each way. For our customers in Hokkaido, Air Canada’s new flights provide the only non-stop and the fastest way to reach the North American continent, with connections to over 45 destinations across Canada, the United States and Mexico at our YVR hub.”
My take on Air Canada’s new flight to Sapporo, Japan
This is such a cool new route, if you ask me! As some may remember, last winter we went on a ski trip to Niseko (which is located in Hokkaido), as the region has some fantastic skiing. While Hokkaido has long been popular with skiers from all over Asia and Australia, it seems to also be increasingly popular with visitors from elsewhere, including North America, Europe, etc.
It’s fantastic to see Air Canada making it easier for those from North America to get to Sapporo. Given what a big connecting hub Vancouver is, this should enable all kinds of one-stop service from across North America.
What’s funny is that the flight from Vancouver to Sapporo is only marginally longer than the Singapore to Sapporo route, which is otherwise among the longest intra-Asia routes to the airport.
Air Canada seems perfectly positioned for this, given its lowering operating costs than US carriers, plus the great transpacific geography of Vancouver. It’s one of many new destinations we’ve seen the airline add in Asia in recent years.
In particular, this is such a brilliant use of an aircraft. North American carriers focus heavily on Europe in the northern summer, given the insatiable demand for transatlantic travel. The challenge is always figuring out where to fly planes in winter.
Sure, there’s demand for South America and the South Pacific, and there’s also some demand for Southeast Asia. But I can’t think of any other long haul service that operates exclusively in winter that’s focused on skiing, quite like this route.
Bottom line
Air Canada will be launching a new 3x weekly winter seasonal flight between Vancouver and Sapporo as of December 2026. This will be the only nonstop flight between North America and Sapporo, and it’ll also be the shortest regularly scheduled “full” transpacific flight. I’m very impressed by Air Canada’s continued growth of its long haul network, and in particular, the unique destinations being added.
What do you make of Air Canada’s new Sapporo service?
Thank god it's from Canada and not seppoland.
How insulting to the amazing island of Hokkaido to reduce it to a “ski destination.” Niseko is by far the least interesting place in Hokkaido.
What do you expect? It's always clueless seppos writing this slop.
I’ll consider it if I can do it for a reasonable number of Aeroplan points as I would have 3, possibly 5, family members joining me.
Literally no one cares.
UA should've done this from SFO where the closest skiing is 4h away (if you're lucky) in Tahoe. If you're in Vancouver why not go to Whistler, and if you're connecting there are plenty of ways to do that via TYO.
I may say, partly in jest, AC treads where others do not dare to go...
They have just converted seasonal YVR-BKK to a year-round, albeit with a reduced frequency.
I believe the winter season is a tryout, and I won't be surprised if it is extended. Canadians are travelling in increased numbers to Japan. CAD is a very weak currency right now, JPY being one of the very few exceptions.
Hokkaido youth would also have it easy to get to the Stussy store in Vancouver...
That’s really cool! I mean, I’m fine with flying to Tokyo then taking the Shinkansen, too, but, more options to Hokkaido, the merrier. And good on Canada (and Air Canada) for expanding connections to its allies in Japan.
Just returned from a ski trip to Hokkaido. Great skiing, but the only two-leg trip from Boston was BOS-HKG-CTS on Cathey Pacific. The outbound flight was brutal (13 hrs + 4 hrs) and the CTS-HKG-BOS flight was worse (4 hrs, 22 hr layover, 14 hrs) . Don't get me wrong - Cathay Pacific is a nice airline. It's just a long time to be in the air.
YUL-YVR-CTS sounds really appealing. At least until the Shinkansen to Sapporo is complet e (in 2038).
If there is a flight delay on this route, you can ask the captain if Sum Ting Wong? Lol
come on dude
No, but, you can pursue compensation under Canada’s APPR regulations (similar to EU/UK261), if the delay was significant and under the airline’s control. Why not pursue a claim for several hundred Canadian dollars! (If only the US cared about consumers enough to have similar legislation… ahh, but the airline lobby bribes our politicians… shame…)
Don't have many hopes. Canadian airlines are pretty litigious, with various outcomes, though. The worst part is that they force passengers to sign the NDA before dishing out the compensation
Sydney- Sapporo-Whistler the Aussies are gonna love this.
Does AC usually file EU to Asia fares via Canada? I would totally book this just for fun (and miles!).
If this only flew in the spring/fall as well. My final destination in Japan is always Hokkaido to visit relatives and it would have been a great way to cut out the stop in Tokyo, but then again I live on the East coast US so my stop in Tokyo is being replaced by a stop in Vancouver and might not actually save me any time.
Instead of connecting two snowy places, I would've loved to seen a flight to FUK.
I will certainly be taking this flight on a ZED fair ticket in order to ski in Japan
"the Japanese ski destination of Hokkaido"
For the geographically ignorant (including the author): "Hokkaido" is a large island, it's not a "ski destination". While Hokkaido does get it's share of snow in the winter, and you can ski there, that's not really a major thing. Winter sports of all kinds, including just enjoying being somewhere cold and snowy (with ice sculptures) is a big thing.
I'm actually surprised that this "seasonal" route runs counter to...
"the Japanese ski destination of Hokkaido"
For the geographically ignorant (including the author): "Hokkaido" is a large island, it's not a "ski destination". While Hokkaido does get it's share of snow in the winter, and you can ski there, that's not really a major thing. Winter sports of all kinds, including just enjoying being somewhere cold and snowy (with ice sculptures) is a big thing.
I'm actually surprised that this "seasonal" route runs counter to Hokkaido's actual major tourism season - which is the summer.
North Americans primarily know Sapporo for the skiing. Their summer season is not as popular with westerners, and is heavily bolstered by more local tourism from countries in the region
the internet (or at least opens now.com begs to differ):
"Utah may have the Greatest Snow on Earth, but Japan has the Greatest Snow Climate on Earth. Nowhere in the world does it snow with such intensity, at such low latitudes, at such low elevations, with such prolific mountain snowfalls." -Jim Steenburgh, Atmospheric Sciences Professor at the University of Utah, Author of the Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth, and known to many as...
the internet (or at least opens now.com begs to differ):
"Utah may have the Greatest Snow on Earth, but Japan has the Greatest Snow Climate on Earth. Nowhere in the world does it snow with such intensity, at such low latitudes, at such low elevations, with such prolific mountain snowfalls." -Jim Steenburgh, Atmospheric Sciences Professor at the University of Utah, Author of the Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth, and known to many as @ProfessorPowder.
Steenburgh says it best. Hokkaido is home to an incredible snow climate that produces 500-600+ inches of snow/year during the so-called Asian Winter Monsoon. Alta Ski Area in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah is known to many in the United States for its deep and consistent snow totals but the months of December, January, and February in Hokkaido can't be matched.
Steenburgh continues the comparison from his blog Wasatch Weather Weenies: "The snowfall accumulation is relatively punctuated but incredibly intense. Compare, for example, the average monthly snowfall at Kutchan, a Japanese Meteorological Agency observing site near the base of Hokkaido's Niseko resorts to that at Alta. Alta features a broad peak from December through March (the minimum in February largely reflects the smaller number of days), whereas Kutchan features a pronounced maximum, exceeding 140 inches, in January."
skiing hokkaido japan average snowfall
This incredible amount of snow is due to very cold air moving over the Sea of Japan from Asia, combining to create powerful sea-effect snow bands, that eventually interact with the mountain terrain of western Hokkaido. This, in turn, gives Hokkaido during the month of January the crown as the best bet for deep powder skiing anywhere in the world. Hence the hashtag #Japanuary that you often see on Instagram.
My two trips took place during the second half of January and the first half of February and those experiences brought quite an array of weather and ski conditions.
The first trip from February 4th through the 17th, 2016 brought one clear day, two rainy days, one zero-visibility day, and multiple powder days. This trip showed that even though it seems like it never stops snowing on Hokkaido, the weather can change and provide less-than-ideal ski conditions.
The second trip from January 20th through February 4th, 2018 was one I'll never forget. This two-week period provided us with nearly five feet of fresh snow across the Niseko region and ended with two clear and windless days. I knew the weather pattern was ideal when looking at the forecast but it was always important to keep my expectations in check and hope for the best.
Sapporois a dream Japanese destination.Congratulations AC,hopefully we could find reasonable fares and enjoy AC world famous service .
World famous service? Famous for indifference? Recently flew NRT YUL and the service was terrible.
The whole point of niche routes to not-heavily-tracked areas is, as Crankyflier has repeatedly pointed out, and both B787 and A321 XLR are/have/will deliver on, is to charge higher fares and have future "junk" fares/seats, while letting the bottom feeders connect at HND/NRT/ICN and trade slightly lower fares for (worthless?) personal time roaming lounges/airport waiting areas...
So, is AC betting that there're enough people who want to ski in Whistler one week and in Niseko the next?
AC is betting there are enough people who want to ski Japan from North America that would rather connect at YVR (or are from there) to get to Sapporo
cool route- but has anyone book J on Air Canada lately? Either at low prices via their own miles, or via a partner?
I flew J 4 years ago (booked via United), but I haven't seen them release J seats to partners in a long time (i also havent looked super hard)
japow babyyyy
Snow monsters! (Juhyo!)
Maybe this is an idea for Hawaiian Airlines, SEA-CTS?
This Ikonic route is going to be Epic.
LOL though mixed feelings about that being expanded into Japan
Not a huge fan of AC, but this is very interesting for a future ski trip.
I had a notebook stolen in AC flight. The customer service and/or customers are not the market I want to be in and it was in business class too. There are better options for seats too and international long haul is more stressful.
Exciting route. But No mention of Westjets latest route announcement of YYCGRU or even their huge transatlantic expansion they announced last year with 4 new routes from YHZ including a brand new daytime transatlantic route.
Wow! I didn't catch that. Great for people in Western Canada.