West coast Canadians will be able to fly non-stop to Miami via Air Canada for the first time in 18 years, with service kicking off just before Christmas.

AC will use 169-seat B737 MAX 8s on the route, with 16 business class recliners and 153 economy seats. Flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Flights will depart YVR at 8:20 am, arriving MIA at 5:06 pm. For return trips, flights will leave MIA at 6:00 pm, arriving YVR at 9:45 pm.

According to Simple Flying, AC intends the route to be year-round. Booking data shows that Vancouver-Miami had about 56,000 roundtrip point-to-point passengers in 2019, making it ripe for the new service. As well as being a popular and dynamic destination, Miami is a key cruise hub, as is nearby Fort Lauderdale

Air Transat launched twice-weekly service from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale in late 2019, but the service ended with the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.