Air Canada's First Dedicated Freighter Enters Service

(13 Dec 2021)  Air Canada has put its first dedicated Boeing 767-300ER freighter into service, ahead of schedule.

The aircraft was originally scheduled to first fly to Frankfurt, but Air Canada Cargo has deployed the aircraft on flights between Toronto and Vancouver.

The freighter has entered service without its final livery. It will be painted in an Air Canada Cargo variation of the Air Canada livery introduced in 2017, at an as yet unspecified date.

Air Canada Boeing 767-300ER Freighter

"Our first freighter is being deployed earlier than initially planned in order to provide additional cargo capacity into and out of Vancouver to meet ongoing demand as a result of the flooding that disrupted British Columbia's transportation network," said Jason Berry, Vice President, Cargo, at Air Canada. "The freighter is planned to operate 12 trips between our Toronto and Vancouver cargo hubs."

Prior to its first freighter operation, Air Canada and Air Canada Cargo had boosted cargo capacity by 586 tonnes into Vancouver from Toronto, Montreal and Calgary in November to allow for the transport of more critical supplies to and from British Columbia.

The first freighter aircraft is currently planned to operate between Toronto and Frankfurt for the remainder of 2021, in addition to the flights to Vancouver. In 2022, primarily out of Toronto, it will also serve Miami, Quito, Lima, Mexico City and Guadalajara. With additional airports including Madrid, Halifax and St. John's planned when the second aircraft is delivered in the first half of 2022.

The Boeing 767-300ER freighters will allow Air Canada Cargo to offer five different main deck configurations, increasing the overall cargo capacity of each aircraft to nearly 58 tonnes or 438 cubic metres, with approximately 75 per cent of this capacity on the main deck.

Since March 2020, Air Canada has operated more than 13,000 all-cargo flights globally using its wide-body passenger aircraft as well as certain temporarily modified Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 aircraft, which have additional available cargo space due to the removal of seats from the passenger cabin.