Until now, if you wanted to fly to Toronto, you had to fly with the American airline, United. That meant travelling first to Newark in New Jersey before catching a second flight to Canada. That also meant the hassle of paying $14US for authorisation to enter the US and then going through the rather intimidating US immigration system while never actually leaving the airport. It was even worse coming back because, much to the annoyance of the Canadians, the US put border controls at Pearson International.
From today however, all that changed. Air Canada rouge has launched a new Edinburgh-Toronto non-stop service, one of three European destinations for the airline. It will operate three flights a week from the Scottish capital, Edinburgh on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, at least until October.
Michael Friisdahl
CEO Air Canada rouge
The company’s President and CEO, Michael Friisdahl, said he was “excited to launch this new route from Edinburgh to Toronto today, which marks one of our first three flights from Europe to Canada. Customers will experience a new kind of leisure travel with outstanding customer service, uncompromised safety, a relaxed in-flight environment and a host of Air Canada benefits; all at competitive fares. With Air Canada rouge you can truly vacation ahead.”
Scotland Transport Minister, Keith Brown, had met representatives of the Canadian airline earlier this year during Scotland Week, helped launched the service at Edinburgh airport. “I know from my recent visit,” he said, “that over four million Canadians claim Scottish ancestry, so having more direct access means there’s arguably never been a better time to discover – or rediscover – what Scotland has to offer.
Keith Brown
Transport Minister
“We are determined to build on international air connections with countries such as Canada, which is such an important market for Scotland. We’ve seen a five-fold increase in terms of direct destinations available over the last decade, and we are working to improve that even further. Our Economic Strategy highlights the importance of ensuring Scotland is well connected with the rest of the world reflecting its importance to our global competitiveness and in helping to secure sustainable economic growth.”
The manager of Edinburgh Airport, Gordon Dewar, welcomed the new service, describing it as “yet another example of how we listen to our customers and work hard to ensure they have the best choice of routes possible. Edinburgh Airport is Scotland’s busiest airport and it’s where Scotland meets the world. It’s hugely exciting to now offer a direct service to Canada which I’m sure our Scottish and Canadian passengers will take full advantage of.”
While the service is currently planned to run just over the summer months this year, there’s a clear expectation that it will return in 2014. Scotland will have a lot to offer its Diaspora with such events as the Homecoming, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup.