Air Canada is altering its plans for the new Montreal-Palma route because of demand, especially from Canadian cycling tourists. Aircraft with greater capacity to transport bikes are to be used. Although the number of scheduled flights has been cut to three from the four, which were initially planned, there will be more passengers overall. The airline will operate a Boeing 787 Dreamliner instead of an Airbus A321.
Xisca Jiménez, Air Canada's commercial manager, says the rate of growth in bookings is very high. "For us, it was interesting to open a direct route, and we are selling quite a lot of tickets to Canada." Forecasts indicate that up to ten per cent of passengers flying to Montreal will be from Mallorca.
The Balearic Government's tourism director-general, Miquel Àngel Rosselló, says Canada offers a tourist profile with preferences that "align perfectly with what we have to offer on the four islands". He travelled to Canada last week for a presentation to the country's tour operators.
The visit included two days of networking events in Toronto and Montreal. The Balearics delegation met with some 90 representatives from tour operators and travel agencies. "There were things that surprised them greatly, including everything that islands like Menorca and Formentera have to offer."
Canadian tour operators have shown "great interest" in exploring options for the off-season. Jiménez indicates that Air Canada is considering this possibility. "If you see that demand is good, the normal thing to do is increase frequencies." She adds that the airline is open to extending the service period. "We have to ensure that this flight becomes a permanent fixture."
As for Etihad's service from Abu Dhabi to Palma, due to launch on June 12, there is currently (and obviously) a great deal of uncertainty. Rossello says forecasts have changed radically. "A lot of demand had been expected." For the time being, Etihad is still scheduling the three flights a week that had been planned up to the middle of September.