Air Canada Rouge

Air Canada Rouge, rouge meaning "red" in French, is a low-cost airline and subsidiary of Air Canada. It is fully integrated into the Air Canada mainline and Air Canada Express networks; flights are sold with AC flight numbers but are listed as "operated by Air Canada Rouge" (similar to regional flights operated under the Air Canada Express banner).

Air Canada Rouge
IATA ICAO Callsign
RV ROU ROUGE
FoundedDecember 2012[1]
Commenced operations1 July 2013
AOC #Canada: 17978,[2] United States: 6CDF397F[3]
Hubs
Frequent-flyer programAeroplan
AllianceStar Alliance (affiliate)
Fleet size21
Destinations81
Parent companyAir Canada
Websiteflyrouge.com

History
A former Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER which had been used mainly on services to Europe prior to the types retirement in 2020

The airline was launched in December 2012 and began services on July 1, 2013. The first destination was Athens, Greece, from Toronto and Montreal, as part of the Air Canada Leisure Group to compete more efficiently with Air Transat, Sunwing, and WestJet in the leisure and vacation travel market, largely operating routes to Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States.

At the time of the launch, it had a fleet of four aircraft, two Airbus A319s and two Boeing 767s, transferred from the parent company. Its fleet expanded to 28 aircraft within 18 months and was expected to reach 16 Boeing 767s, 20 Airbus A319s and five Airbus A321s by mid-2016.[4] By early September 2016, the airline had expanded its Boeing 767 fleet to 19 aircraft.[5]

On March 24, 2014, Air Canada announced plans for Air Canada Rouge to expand into Western Canada beginning in Spring 2014, to serve predominantly leisure markets from Vancouver and Calgary to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Palm Springs, Honolulu, Maui and Anchorage.[6] A seasonal service from Vancouver to Osaka/Kansai started in May 2015.[4] In December 2015 new routes were announced including Toronto to Miami, Fort Myers, Charlottetown, and Deer Lake. Year-round routes include Toronto and Montreal to Fort Lauderdale; Montreal to Miami; Vancouver to San Diego and Mexico City; and Calgary to Phoenix.[7]

In May 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Air Canada announced the retirements of 79 aircraft among its mainline and Rouge fleets. This included Boeing 767, Embraer 190, and Airbus A319 aircraft. Air Canada Rouge was significantly affected, as the airline lost all 25 767s, and 19 A319s, leaving it with only 18 A320/A321, and 3 Airbus A319 as their fleet. This means the airline will no longer be able to reach some of its destinations in Europe, such as Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport or Zagreb Airport. Plans are in the works to continue to fly to some European destinations that are in range of these narrowbody aircraft.[8][9][10]

Air Canada Rouge service is being suspended from 9 February 2021 to adhere to new travel rules by the government aimed at reducing non-essential travel.[11]

Destinations
Main article: List of Air Canada destinations § List of destinations served by Air Canada Rouge

Air Canada Rouge serves predominantly leisure destinations in Europe, the Caribbean, South America, Central America, Mexico, and the United States.

Fleet
Airbus A319-100
Airbus A320-200
Airbus A321-200

The Air Canada Rouge fleet consists of the following registered aircraft (as of December 2020).[12][13][5]

Air Canada Rouge fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers[5] Notes
B E Total
Airbus A319-100 3 — 12 124 136 Mass retirement due to COVID-19 pandemic
Airbus A320-200 4 — 12 156 168 All former Interjet aircraft.
Airbus A321-200 14 — 16 184 200 1 former Air Berlin aircraft.
8 former WOW air aircraft.
— 200
Total 21 —

Service concept

Seating

The Air Canada Rouge Airbus A319 has 16 more seats than a regular Air Canada Airbus A319[14] with 136 seats, the first four rows being for Rouge Plus and Premium Rouge passengers.[4] The Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER carried 71 more passengers than most regular Air Canada Boeing 767-300ER aircraft,[14] with 282 seats. Of these 223 are economy, 35 Rouge Plus and 24 Premium Rouge.[4] The 29-inch seat pitch on their A320 series aircraft is one of the smallest in North America, resulting in less leg room than on most other comparable aircraft.[15]

Entertainment

Air Canada Rouge is equipped with a wireless streaming entertainment system, called Player, that passengers can use directly on their personal devices, such as Apple iOS and Android devices, as well as laptops. The streaming system works on Apple devices only if the Air Canada application is downloaded prior to the flight; Android users can now download the app prior to departure or while in flight from the on-board server. Laptop use requires the Flash plug-in.

On-board services

The baggage policy is the same as Air Canada's. Flights to and from Europe have complimentary food and drink service with for-purchase alcoholic drinks. A buy-on-board food offering in line with the mainline service exists for all other flights.[16]

References
  1. meet Air Canada rouge. aircanada.com, Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  2. Transport Canada (August 28, 2019), Civil Aviation Services (CAS) AOC. wwwapps.tc.gc.ca.
  3. "Federal Aviation Administration - Airline Certificate Information - Detail View". av-info.faa.gov. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  4. "Applying rouge". Airliner World: 88–96. March 2015.
  5. "Air Canada Fleet". Air Canada.
  6. newswire.ca - Air Canada rouge Expands to Western Canada
  7. "Introducing new Air Canada rouge routes: summer 2016 - Book at aircanada.com". www.aircanada.com. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  8. "Temperature scans in, 767s out for Air Canada, Rouge". Paxex.aero. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  9. "Air Canada slashes Rouge fleet, shrinks mainline". skiesmag.com. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  10. https://simpleflying.com/air-canada-rouge-resumes-operations/?utm_source=Bibblio
  11. "Air Canada puts all Rouge flights on hiatus | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  12. "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for Air Canada Rouge". Transport Canada. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  13. "Air Canada Rouge Fleet Details and History". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  14. Aircraft Summary. seatguru.com. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  15. "SeatGuru Seat Map Air Canada Airbus A319 (319)". www.seatguru.com. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  16. flyrouge.com retrieved 15 February 2018

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