Air Canada moves to attract more US sixth freedom traffic, but new pressures await

One of Air Canada's key strategic initiatives during the next few years is to solidify its presence as Canada's leading international airline, and its execution of that strategy is now more important than ever after rival WestJet has made the first concrete steps in acquiring widebody aircraft.

Part of Air Canada's efforts in maximising higher-yielding international traffic is wresting sixth freedom flows away from the US to its Canadian hubs. This is particularly important over Toronto where the groundwork is in place to allow for seamless connections to Air Canada's long-haul flights to Asia and Europe.

Air Canada believes that if it succeeds in capturing its projected share of the international transit traffic, it could generate CAD400 million (USD371 million) in annual revenue. But US airlines are improving their onboard product and bolstering long-haul flights, adding new challenges to Air Canada's transit passenger scheme.