Reinstating Air Canada's direct flights to Scotland after an eight-year hiatus shores up Scotland's connectivity following the "catastrophic" loss of bmi routes to Heathrow, the chairman of VisitScotland has said.
Speaking before Wednesday's inaugural flight of the Canadian national carrier's new, thrice-weekly, summer service between Edinburgh and Toronto's Pearson International Airport, Mike Cantlay said the revival of the direct transatlantic link, established at Prestwick 70 years ago, will help repair the damage to Scotland's accessibility caused by bmi's withdrawal from the Star Alliance after its purchase by BA owner IAG in April 2012.
Air Canada is a founder member of the 28-airline partnership, and Toronto is a key hub for connecting flights throughout North and South America.
Cantlay said: "When bmi failed, a lot of business people were saying, 'That's terrible, we were using them to go to London'. In fact, the major impact of bmi was more that. As a Star Alliance partner, it connected us to 26 airlines flying to 70 countries and 156 cities throughout the world.
"Air Canada is one of those 26 we have been working hard with since. Canada is a core market for Scottish tourism. North America is our biggest inbound market, and Toronto is key for business and high-end tourism.
"There was a time when you typed 'Edinburgh' on to the Air Canada website and it said, 'You must have spelled that wrong'. It was that bad, given that something like 30% of Canadians only want to use Air Canada. [The bmi loss] left a big hole which we had to deal with."
Cantlay described how he and Transport Minister Keith Brown aggressively lobbied the airline to make Edinburgh or Glasgow an inaugural destination for its new, lower-cost Rouge service, served by 270-seat Boeing 767-300s from a newly-customised 10-aircraft fleet. Air Canada, the world's 15th-largest airline, had previously abandoned direct flights to Scotland in 2005 due to "fleet changes".
Cantlay said: "Securing this route has been absolutely vital. These 270 seats mean 540 movements per day. There's only three of them per week at the moment, during peak season, which is all they have available, but it's our job [at VisitScotland] to make sure they are full.
"Air Canada's acquisition of new Dreamliners will release more 767s for this route and they are hoping to have more available for next year.
"That will be an important year for us, with the Homecoming and Commonwealth Games appealing to the four million Canadians who claim Scottish descent."
Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: "It's hugely exciting to offer a direct service to Canada. This new service is yet another example of how we listen to our customers and work hard to ensure they have the best choice of routes possible."
Vijay Bathija, vice-president commercial of Air Canada, said: "Rouge is part of our leisure group along with Air Canada Vacations. It's part of our focus on leisure markets – routes that cannot be profitably served by the Air Canada cost structure, but are good markets for a lower cost structure and a unique customer experience."
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