Air Canada Joins the Club of Airlines Crossing the Atlantic With 737s
By now, the commercial aviation industry is no stranger to long-haul flights operated by narrowbody aircraft, especially Boeing's venerable 737. There have been regularly scheduled transatlantic 737 flights for a while now, including an SAS flight from Copenhagen (CPH) to Newark (EWR) on a 737-700. What used to be unique and even odd is now normal, with several airlines flying narrowbodies across the pond, including Norwegian with its 737s, WOW with Airbus A321s and even British Airways with an Airbus A318 (though this all-business-class flight is very exclusive).
Now, Air Canada is joining the club of airlines operating transatlantic flights with smaller, more efficient aircraft. The carrier is set to receive its first Boeing 737 MAX at the end of this month, and said on Wednesday that it'll be using the type to fly between its hubs in Toronto (YYZ) and Montreal (YUL) and Ireland. This isn't the airline's first transatlantic flight on a narrowbody aircraft, however. As One Mile At a Time reports, it already flies an Airbus A319 on its nonstop flights between St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador (YYT) and London (LHR) — a significantly shorter distance than Toronto and Montreal to Ireland, though.
The new 737 MAX flights will be available for purchase on September 19, 2017 and will operate four times weekly beginning in June 2018 with the following schedule:
- AC820 Toronto (YYZ) 10:00pm Departure ⇒ Shannon (SNN) 9:30am (+1) Arrival
- Service on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
- AC818 Montreal (YUL) 9:15pm Departure ⇒ Dublin (DUB) 8:25am (+1) Arrival
- Service on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
There's no word yet on how the cabins will be arranged, but it's likely that it'll sport a conventional, "domestic" layout which means it would have recliner seats in business class (which is the equivalent of a domestic first-class product on a US airline) and an economy cabin in a 3-3 configuration.
Would you fly across the Atlantic in a 737?
