Air Canada has announced that it would increase its Sydney-Vancouver and Brisbane-Vancouver flights in time for the northern winter ski season.

Due to strong demand from the Queensland market, Air Canada will increase capacity on its Brisbane-Vancouver route by 34% for the 2023/24 northern winter season.

From November, the airline will replace its 298-seat Boeing 787- 9 Dreamliner with a 400-seat Boeing 777-300ER, flying five times a week in November and then increasing to daily service from December to March.

The airline also revealed that between December 2023 and January 2024, the daily Sydney-Vancouver route, which departs at 12 noon, would be joined by a 4 pm departure three days a week. This additional flight will arrive in Vancouver around 11.30 am, making it ideal for connecting to onward destinations.

Meanwhile, Auckland Vancouver services will be increased to five times weekly between December and March.

Air Canada’s partnership with Virgin Australia enables convenient domestic connections if you’re not in Sydney or Brisbane. Velocity members can earn Velocity Points and status credits and redeem the points for flights on Air Canada between Australia and Vancouver and beyond.

Vancouver is a great place to visit. Still, it also serves as the starting point for journeys to other parts of British Columbia and Canada, such as the ski paradise of Whistler or the fabled ‘Inside Passage’ of Alaska.

Air Canada also presents itself as a hassle-free way to travel to the United States, owing to what it calls a “seamless transit process.”

According to Vic Naughton, Air Canada’s General Manager for Australia and New Zealand, Vancouver “is now firmly established among Australian travellers as the friendliest and most efficient gateway to North America.”

“That is hardly surprising given that Air Canada passengers proceed to their connecting flights without needing to re-check their bags or change terminals,” with US-bound passengers passing through US customs and immigration at Vancouver and arriving in the US as domestic passengers.

Naughton explains that this is how Air Canada can once again provide the quickest service between Brisbane and New York and other US destinations like Seattle.