After months of break, Air Canada Rouge took back to the skies. The low-cost subsidiary of Air Canada (ADH2) marked the relaunch of its operations with the first Rouge flight from Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) in Canada to Cancun International Airport (CUN) in Mexico on November 2, 2020.
“Air Canada Rouge remains an important part of our overall strategy in rebuilding Air Canada’s (ADH2) global network. As leisure traffic resumes, we will progressively add Air Canada Rouge to select North American leisure markets from Eastern Canada,” announced Mark Galardo, the Vice President of Network Planning and Alliances at Air Canada (ADH2), in a press release.
So far, one Air Canada Rouge aircraft returned to active service, according to Planespotters.com data. Air Canada Rouge operates a monogamous Airbus narrow-body fleet of 4 A320s and 14 Airbus A321 jets.
With the aim to lure the passenger demand, the low-cost airline announced that the customers of Air Canada Rouge would be offered a choice of Premium Rouge and Economy services onboard. The airline will offer passengers pre-packed meals and bar and beverage service for the premium travelers, as announced in an official statement.
Air Canada Rouge claimed that all flights would be operated taking special biosafety measures as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline announced that all of its jet cabins would be equipped with a specific HEPA air filtration system which would ensure that the air in the cabin would be refreshed every 20-30 minutes of the flight.
Air Canada Rouge has suspended the majority of its international routes since April 2020.