Air Canada Debuts Nonstop Milan-Montreal Service

DALLAS - Air Canada (AC) launches a year-round nonstop service between the Italian city of Milan and Montreal, with five flights per week.

The new route is AC’s first-ever service between Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) and Montréal–Dorval International Airport (YUL), making the airline the only carrier to offer year-round nonstop flights between Italy and Canada. The new service operates onwards from Montreal to Toronto.

The new service builds on AC’s existing nonstop seasonal services from Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) to Toronto and Montreal, as well as from Venice to Toronto and Montreal.

Air Canada operates flights between Milan and Montreal with Airbus A330-300 aircraft that accommodate 297 passengers in three levels of service: Economy, Premium Economy, and Air Canada Signature Class, which includes lie-flat seats. All flights are scheduled to take advantage of the Star Alliance member's broad North American network, which includes 46 airports in the United States.

Air Canada C-GEGP Airbus A330-300 (Star Alliance Livery). Photo: Lorenzo Giacobbo/Aitrways

Comments from Air Canada, SEA Milan Airports

“We are excited to launch our new flight from Milan to Montreal and onwards to Toronto,” said Stefano Casaregola, Air Canada Regional Manager Sales Italy. “This new service will not only provide our customers in Italy with year-round direct flights to Canada, but also allows convenient onward travel options across our extensive North American network and Latin America.”

"The return of Air Canada with the opening of the connection between Milan, Montreal and Toronto further increases the offer to North America, which thus reaches 66 weekly flights from Malpensa to that area,” said Armando Brunini, CEO of SEA Milan Airports.

The SEA official added, “The real novelty is Montreal connected to Malpensa after over twenty years, and the return of the flight to Toronto, twin city with Milan, with a strong appeal for both business and leisure. Following the recovery of domestic and European air traffic, we are happy to see a gradual return of intercontinental flights, more penalized by the pandemic. In this moment of covid regression, which we hope will be lasting, despite some challenges, we are working to return to pre-covid levels."

The signs, at the moment, are comforting at least for North America where we recover about 80% of flights and 78% of seats offered and we hope for an improved load factor compared to the most critical phase of the pandemic.