Air Canada to Upgrade rouge

Air Canada has unveiled plans to upgrade a number of products on its leisure airline, Air Canada rouge.

The premium cabin in Air Canada rouge's fleet of 20 Airbus A319 aircraft will be converted by mid-June 2015 from its current 3x3 seating configuration with a blocked middle seat to two side-by-side Business Class seats in a 2x2 configuration.

This new seating provides customers more personal space and generous legroom as well as full power charging capacity with a 110-volt power plug and a high-powered USB port at every seat. Additional customer convenience features include a centre console and pop-out cocktail tray between the two seats and a coat hook at every seat.

"Air Canada has listened to its customers and is pleased to announce product investments in the Air Canada rouge fleet including new Business Class seats on all Airbus A319 aircraft," said Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines at Air Canada. "The new business class seating on rouge Airbus A319 aircraft provides our premium leisure customers with more space and comfort and, together with complimentary bar and meal service, is in line with our award winning Air Canada Business Class. We continue to strategically deploy Air Canada rouge on routes with high leisure travel demand as part of our strategy for sustainable, profitable growth. These product improvements, including Business Class seating offering the same or more space than equivalent seating on widebody rouge Boeing 767 aircraft, provides customers with a market leading premium leisure product in North America."

All Air Canada rouge flights provide for Aeroplan accumulation and redemption and, for eligible customers, priority check-in, Maple Leaf Lounge access, priority boarding and other benefits.

Air Canada rouge will also increase carry-on space throughout its Airbus A319 fleet by 30% with the installation of new overhead bin doors – dubbed "pillow doors" because of their curved shape – which allow carry-on items to be stowed more efficiently. The installation will take place this summer.

In addition to the upgrades on its Airbus A319 aircraft, Air Canada rouge is also enhancing its inflight entertainment system on all Airbus A319 and Boeing 767 aircraft.

Air Canada rouge is one of the first airlines in North America to offer a streaming inflight entertainment system. This system, called player, is complimentary to customers that have downloaded the free app onto their own laptops or mobile Apple and Android devices.

Air Canada rouge also provides an Apple iPad rental program onboard that is now renting out lightweight iPad Air 2 tablets that have been upgraded to feature dozens of the latest Hollywood new releases and popular iPad games for one and two players. iPad rentals are complimentary in the Premium rouge cabin.