Air China, Air Canada sign first China-North America airline JV

Air China and Air Canada signed (06-Jun-2018) the first JV agreement between a Chinese and North American airline, deepening the two carriers' longstanding partnership. The JV enables the two countries' flag carriers and Star Alliance members to expand their existing codeshare relationship and deepen it by increasing commercial cooperation on services between Canada and China and on key connecting domestic services in both countries. The JV will be phased in over the next six months, and will include optimised flight schedules, harmonised fare products, joint sales including corporate and marketing programs, aligned frequent flyer privileges and reciprocal lounge access. Air China chairman Jianjiang Cai stated: "The Sino-Canada market is one of the important long haul markets to Air China, which has been developed rapidly in recent years with an increase of 17.8% in 2017". Air Canada president and CEO Calin Rovinescu added that the JV is an "important strategy in our global expansion as it significantly increases Air Canada's presence in an aviation market set to become the world's largest by 2022". Mr Rovinescu added: "Having served China for more than 30 years, and as demonstrated by Air Canada's average annual capacity growth of 12.5% over five years and the USD2 billion of aircraft assets currently committed on routes between Canada and China, China is an integral part of our global network". Air Canada has increased its capacity on routes between Canada and China on average by 12.5% p/a over the last five years. [more - original PR]