Because Air Canada flies to over 180 countries, aircraft are picked to best serve certain routes. The Embraer 190 wouldn’t be used for a transatlantic flight to Paris because it doesn’t have the necessary fuel capacity. Alternately, the fuel burn on a Boeing 777 would be too great to justify using it on flights between Calgary and Edmonton. Our mainline fleet includes five different types of aircraft to accommodate different route structures and airport parameters. While smaller airports can’t handle large jets, others limit landing slots, so we fly larger airplanes to balance the demand-to-cost ratio of having permission to land in those coveted spots.
Photo: Reynard Li
Doug Morris is an author, meteorologist, instructor and Air Canada captain on the Boeing 787.
