Air Canada can celebrate a solid cost performance for rouge as it approaches its second anniversary

Air Canada's low cost unit rouge is approaching its two year anniversary, with much of the controversy that surrounded its establishment and launch firmly behind it. As it celebrates two years of operation in early Jul-2015, rouge has a solid presence at Air Canada's three hubs serving leisure destinations in Europe, the US, the Caribbean, Latin America and even Japan.

rouge's route network has grown rapidly during the last two years, a time in which it appears that the airline's cost performance has exceeded Air Canada's expectations. What remains unclear is if Air Canada has fully managed to educate passengers about the differences between rouge's product offer and Air Canada mainline, which has caused some customer concerns for the airline's passengers.

At two years old, rouge remains in its early stages. But it has clearly made strides with Air Canada mainline employees and has played a key role in Air Canada's recent refinement of certain financial targets it intends to meet in the future.