Air Canada and Aer Lingus have signed an interline agreement to make flying between Ireland and Canada more convenient. The agreement is effective immediately and is a preliminary step toward a full code sharing relationship expected to be finalised next year between the Canadian and Irish flag carriers.
“Air Canada is pleased to interline with Aer Lingus as it will complement our Dublin-Toronto seasonal service to make it easy to fly year-round between Ireland and Canada via convenient connections through London Heathrow, Air Canada’s largest international station. We intend to follow through with other measures to enhance the experience for customers travelling between Ireland and Canada, including a full code share relationship with Aer Lingus beginning next year, the planned relocation of both carriers to Terminal 2 at Heathrow to facilitate connections and following that the introduction of year-round flights between Ireland and Canada,” said Gary Cross, General Manager Europe, Middle East, Africa and India at Air Canada.
“We are delighted to announce this new partnership. We look forward to working closely with Air Canada to provide our customers with seamless travel options between Ireland and Canada,” said Stephen Kavanagh, Chief Commercial Officer at Aer Lingus.
As a result of the agreement, customers flying Air Canada and Aer Lingus are now able to use a single electronic ticket, customers can also use both carriers’ check-in kiosks and through-check their baggage to their final destination.
Currently, Air Canada flies Dublin-Toronto non-stop daily during the summer (from 8 June until 14 October in 2012) and now customers can connect through London Heathrow, where Air Canada serves up to eight major Canadian cities with 12 daily flights in summer and nine in winter. Aer Lingus operates a total of 23 flights daily from London Heathrow to Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Shannon.
