Air Canadao’s first 787 Dreamliner parks at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

In the world’s bumpy but robust civil aviation industry, Asia remains a vital part of Air Canada’s international route network, with the airline continuously evaluating new route possibilities that include the vast network of air travel in China.

For the Asian market, China — with the number of outbound Chinese travellers projected to balloon to more than 400 million within the next few years — is conspicuously on the radar of Air Canada, one of the 20 leading airlines in the world.

“We believe China will continue to be one of the most important aviation markets in the years to come,” said Rocky Lo, Air Canada’s director of business development for Asia.

Lo said that Air Canada is continuously exploring new destinations as it expands its international air services, but he declined to reveal the routes, due to competition.

Air Canada operates daily flights from Toronto and Vancouver to Shanghai and Beijing, using its Boeing 787 Dreamliner and flagship Boeing 777 aircraft. In addition, Air Canada is into code-sharing flights with Air China, which operates between Montreal and Beijing.

According to Lo, all of these flights are scheduled to connect the major Canadian cities of Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal with other destinations in the US and Latin America.

In further updating Air Canada’s operations to China, he said the airline operates daily flights between Vancouver-Beijing, Vancouver-Shanghai, Toronto-Beijing and Toronto-Shanghai as well as code shares with Star Alliance partner Air China on its Montreal-Beijing flights.

“We have several code-share arrangements for flights which offer customers a multitude of conveniences like thru-ticketing, thru-check-in, baggage transfers, frequent flyer program reciprocation, including mileage accumulation and redemption and status recognition,” he said.

This is amid the growing number of Chinese tourists, investors, businessmen and even immigrants heading to Canada, and more and more Canadians travelling to China as well.

Lo said Air Canada’s international route network is an integral part of its business, and for this year alone, it had launched new services on the Montreal-Venice, Montreal-Mexico City, Toronto-Dubai, Toronto-Delhi and Vancouver-Osaka routes.

By next summer, Air Canada will be launching new international flights on the Montreal-Casablanca, Montreal-Lyon, Toronto-Prague, Toronto-Budapest, Toronto-Glasgow, Toronto-London Gatwick, Toronto-Warsaw, Toronto-Seoul, Vancouver-Brisbane and Vancouver-Dublin routes.

Lo touched on the incentives for Chinese travellers to choose Air Canada coming to North America, pointing out that the airline offers a transit program that allows Chinese passport holders to travel from China to US cities via Canada (with same-day connections) without requiring transit visas.

“We also offer US pre-clearance facilities in both Vancouver and Toronto that make the connection seamless, convenient and efficient,” he said.

“In many cases, customers do not even need to pick up their checked-in luggage in Canada during the customs clearing process.”

As of today, Air Canada is the only carrier between Canada and Beijing and Shanghai to offer premium economy service on its 787 Dreamliner aircraft, said Lo.

“This product is of great interest to customers looking for a more luxurious travel experience from economy class if international business class is out of reach for them,” Lo said.

“By June next year, all of our flights to and from China will feature premium economy, which offers premium services, and more spacious seats and leg room as we are in the process of reconfiguring all our Boeing 777 aircraft to feature this new and highly desirable service.”