• Yellowknife seasonal service from Vancouver complements year-round service from Edmonton and from Calgary
• Vancouver-Yellowknife seasonal service to begin early Fall in 2018 to meet growing demand from Asia

YELLOWKNIFE, Dec. 16, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada's inaugural flight, AC8834 from Yellowknife to Vancouver departed this morning, marking the only non-stop service linking Canada's spectacular Northwest Territories and Vancouver. The route's daily seasonal service operates until April, and next year's seasonal service from Vancouver will begin Sept. 5, 2018.

"We are pleased to now link Yellowknife to our Vancouver trans-Pacific hub, connecting seamlessly to and from our Asia and US transborder networks to offer time savings and ease for both international visitors travelling to enjoy our country's spectacular Aurora Borealis and Canada's northern winter adventures, as well as for local residents.  Our seasonal route will begin in early fall next year to meet the growing demand for travel to Canada's Northwest Territories from Asia," said Benjamin Smith, President – Passenger Airlines at Air Canada.

"We are delighted that this new flight is being added by Air Canada, a spectacular marketing partner of ours," said Cathie Bolstad, Executive Director for NWT Tourism.  "We are seeing rapid growth in visitation to the NWT.  In 2016, aurora tourism grew by 23% and our territory hosted close to 30,000 visitors whose visit was specifically to come see the Aurora.  Preliminary numbers for 2017 suggest that we will see increased visitation in this winter's aurora season and having this added flight is going to contribute to that success, while also giving NWT residents more travel options too."

Air Canada's Yellowknife-Vancouver non-stop services are offered onboard 76-seat Bombardier CRJ-705 jet aircraft featuring a choice of Business Class or Economy service operated by Jazz Aviation LP under the Air Canada Express banner. All flights offer wi-fi, Air Canada's personal in-flight entertainment available at every seat, and provide for Aeroplan accumulation and redemption, Star Alliance reciprocal benefits and, for eligible customers, priority check-in, Maple Leaf Lounge access at the Vancouver hub, priority boarding and other benefits.

About Air Canada
Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 200 airports on six continents.  Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2016 served close to 45 million customers.  Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 64 airports in Canada, 60 in the United States and 98 in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,300 airports in 191 countries.  Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax, which also named Air Canada the 2017 Best Airline in North America.  For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com/media, follow @AirCanada on Twitter and join Air Canada on Facebook.

SOURCE Air Canada