Air Canada to start long-delayed Vancouver-Orange County route

Air Canada will launch service between Vancouver (YVR) and Orange County, California (SNA) from Oct. 2, flying a route it planned to start in June 2020 but scrapped because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The route will be initially be operated 4X-weekly, increasing to daily in 2022. Air Canada will operate the service using Boeing 737-8, according to OAG Schedules Analyser.

Air Canada originally announced the route in early March 2020 to start in June 2020, but COVID-19 hit North America just weeks after the announcement, leading to, among other things, the closing of the US-Canada border to all but essential travel. The border reopened on Aug. 9 for vaccinated passengers.

Air Canada senior VP-network planning Mark Galardo said the new route is part of the restoration of the Canada-US transborder network. This fall, the Montreal-based carrier will fly 240 daily flights to/from 35 destinations across the US.

Air Canada said it will eventually fly its full transborder network, which would include serving 57 US cities, “as conditions allow.”

Photo credit: Joe Pries

Aaron Karp

Aaron Karp is a Contributing Editor to the Aviation Week Network.