Image courtesy of Air Canada

Sometimes flying through connecting airports can really be a pain. Snow, ice, missed connections, delays and can all wreak havoc, especially for winter travellers. So while Vancouver is quietly positioning itself as a North American leader with respect to flights to Asia, if you’d rather skip the connection, Air Canada has announced it will be rolling out new service to Shanghai from Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

"Building on Air Canada's success in the rapidly growing Chinese market we are delighted to announce Air Canada's first direct flights between Montreal and China with the launch of Montreal-Shanghai service next year," said Calin Rovinescu, Air Canada's president and chief executive officer.  "This also marks the introduction of Air Canada's first 787 Dreamliner aircraft service from Montreal, further underlining our commitment to expand our global reach and reinforce Montreal-Trudeau as a strategic hub. With today's announcement, Air Canada has increased its international capacity from Montreal by 133 per cent since 2009, with direct service to 13 cities in Europe, North Africa and China.”

The flight, which first takes to the skies on Feb. 16, 2017, does involve a flying time of 14.5 hours, which means there’s a lot of time for in-flight movies. This will be the longest flight ever operated from any carrier out of Montréal-Trudeau airport.

"This new Montreal-Shanghai non-stop Air Canada service will help deepen our already strong people-to-people ties with China. It will also help boost tourism, trade and the economy and offer more choice for Canadian consumers. Today's announcement comes at an important time in Canada-China relations as demonstrated by the two back-to-back Leaders' visits over the past three weeks," stated Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, and Member of Parliament for Saint-Laurent.

In Shanghai, passengers will be able to connect to Star Alliance partners Air China and Shenzhen Airlines, as well as Air Canada partner Juneyao Airlines to connect to destinations through China.

The new flight is also good news for the city’s tourism industry, with the potential of bringing in significant visitor traffic from Asia Pacific and China, which is among the nation’s top inbound visitor markets.

"As an important partner, Tourisme Montréal is thrilled about the improved air service between our city and China, a major tourism market for Montreal,” said Yves Lalumière, CEO of Tourisme Montréal. “This is an important strategic initiative for Tourisme Montréal. It is with determination that we will pursue our objective and ensure the continuity of these services, and that we will keep promoting Montréal as a choice tourism destination in other Asian markets.”

With the new Montreal-Shanghai service, Air Canada will operate more than 49 weekly flights to China including 21 from Toronto and 21 from Vancouver.

Air Canada's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft offers service in three cabin classes, including International Business Class, with 20 Executive Pods featuring 180-degree lie-flat seats, Premium Economy cabin with 21 wider seats offering greater legroom, and an Economy cabin with 210 slimline seats.

Air Canada has been headquartered in Montreal since 1949 and employs more than 5,500 personnel in the region. Montréal-Trudeau Airport (YUL) is a strategic hub for Air Canada, with 2,100 flights per week to 80 destinations around the world.

For more information, visit www.aircanada.com.

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