Air Canada (AC, Montréal Trudeau) will retire all remaining eight B767-300(ER)s from its mainline fleet by the end of 2019, President (Passenger Airlines) Benjamin Smith said during a quarterly investor call on April 30, 2018. The Canadian flag carrier has also decided against a new B787 order and will instead refurbish its A330-300s and add new units of the type.
"We will be introducing four more Airbus A330 aircraft into our fleet, to replace capacity from our mainline Boeing B767 fleet which will be retiring in 2019," Smith said.
"Following a thorough fleet analysis, we have decided to invest CAD275 million dollars (USD213.5 million) in our Airbus A330 fleet, eight of which are owned and fully unencumbered and four of which are under lease arrangements with delivery scheduled in 2019," CFO Mike Rousseau added.
According to the carrier, refurbishing its A330s, which are on average 17.7 years old, and adding four more units of the type will offer a lower cost base than converting options for new B787s.
"When we look at fleet decisions, we assess whether we should exercise B787 options versus spending some money to refurbish the A330 fleet and a much better business case is to refurbish the A330 fleet," CEO Calin Rovinescu said.
All A330s will eventually be based out of Montréal Trudeau, allowing for shorter transatlantic flights. Currently, units of the type are also based out of Toronto Pearson and Vancouver International, the ch-aviation capacity module shows.
Following the investment in the cabins, Air Canada will offer a uniform cabin on all widebody jets, including the A330s, the B777s, and the B787s. The cabin reconfiguration for the A330s will commence in late 2019 and is expected to be completed in 2020.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Air Canada's current widebody fleet includes eight B767-300(ER)s, eight A330-300s, six B777-200(LR)s, nineteen B777-300(ER)s, eight B787-8s, and twenty-five B787-9s. The carrier's low-cost unit Air Canada rouge (RV, Toronto Pearson) operates a further twenty-four B767-300(ER)s.
Air Canada also announced that it had adjusted the delivery schedule for its Boeing B737 MAX Family aircraft. The carrier's order book for the type directly with Boeing currently stands at thirty-seven B737-8s and twelve B737-9s.
"The amendment accelerates delivery of five B737 MAX aircraft by one year to 2020, and defers delivery of eleven B737 MAX aircraft by up to 36 months," Rousseau said.
