Air Canada Extends Heathrow 737 MAX Cancellations

Air Canada’s routes from Heathrow to Halifax and St John’s remain cancelled until 1 August 2019 at the earliest.

London Air Travel » Halifax

Air Canada Boeing 737 MAX aircraft
Air Canada Boeing 737 MAX aircraft (Image Credit: Air Canada)

Air Canada has issued an update on its flight operations and schedules following the widely publicised grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

This has caused significant problems for Air Canada as it had 24 of the aircraft in service. It was also due to receive a further 12 aircraft this summer and deliveries of new aircraft have been suspended by Boeing.

The grounding of aircraft has caused disruption to flights within North America and is also causing disruption to Air Canada’s summer schedule.

As a consequence of this, Air Canada’s routes from London Heathrow to Halifax, Nova Scotia; and St John’s, Newfoundland remain suspended until Thursday 1 August 2019 at the earliest. These were scheduled for resumption on Sunday 2 June 2019 and Air Canada has updated its schedules today, Thursday 25 April 2019.

Passengers whose flights have been cancelled will be re-accommodated via Air Canada services from London Heathrow to Montreal and Toronto. However, this obviously involves significant backtracking and extended journey times.

Outside of London, summer seasonal routes have been delayed and some routes have been swapped between Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge. The airline is also wet-leasing aircraft from Qatar Airways on some routes, subject to regulatory approval.

Full details of the latest changes are detailed in this Air Canada press release. General passenger guidance is also available on aircanada.com

WestJet launches London Gatwick – Halifax

WestJet is to launch a new summer seasonal route from London Gatwick to Halifax, Nova Scotia from Monday 30 April 2018 to Saturday 27 October 2018. Flights will be operated using a single aisle Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft.

London Air Travel » Halifax

WestJet Boeing 737-800 MAX Aircraft
WestJet Boeing 737-800 MAX Aircraft (Image Credit: WestJet)

WestJet is to launch a new route from London Gatwick to Halifax in the summer of 2018.

The Canadian airline will fly from London Gatwick to Halifax, Nova Scotia (Halifax Stanfield International Airport) daily from Monday 30 April 2018 to Saturday 27 October 2018.

Flights will be operated using the single aisle Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft which, as pictured above, has a distinctive set of split winglets.

The aircraft has a single cabin with 168 seats. This includes three rows of WestJet’s premium economy cabin “Plus” in a 2-2 configuration (the middle seat is kept free). WestJet also promises 11 rows of extra-leg room seats with a pitch of 34 inches in a 3-3 configuration.
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