Air Canada has added narrowbody Airbus A321XLR flights to its transatlantic route from Montréal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) to Lyon Saint Exupéry Airport (LYS) in the southeast of France next year. The type will temporarily replace the larger widebody twinjets that typically serve this route, but flyers should be aware of a major caveat: this change will only apply for a month.

Still, this move is an exciting one for Air Canada, as it right-sizes capacity in the shoulder season on a secondary long-haul route that does not need year-round widebody coverage, but still warrants regular flights to some degree. In this article, we will take a closer look at when these flights will be operating, the frequencies and block times that passengers can expect, and what it is like on the A321XLR.

Credit: Air Canada

As reported recently by Aero Routes, Air Canada has rostered the Airbus A321XLR to its route from Montréal to Lyon on a short-term basis in the spring of next year. According to the publication, a recent schedule update shows that the twinjet is set to serve this secondary transatlantic corridor five times a week from March 29 to April 30, with a maximum westbound block time of eight hours and 45 minutes.

As detailed in the table above, the eastbound overnight flights are shorter, clocking in at a block time of seven hours and 25 minutes. These services will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, with the return legs running on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Mark Galardo, the EVP, CCO, and President of Cargo at Air Canada, said in June that:

“For our premium customers, the A321XLR will offer the only lie-flat seats on a single-aisle aircraft for a Canadian carrier as it crosses the Atlantic and connects destinations across North America.”

Replacing The A330 In The Shoulder Season

Credit: Great Circle Map

It is important to note at this juncture that Montréal to Lyon is now a new route for Air Canada. Indeed, current scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that the Canadian flag carrier and Star Alliance founding member offers consistent coverage over the coming months, with the A321XLR also set to serve the route in September and October of this year.

However, the A321XLR is a new addition on the route in late March and throughout April. Indeed, Air Canada typically favors the larger Airbus A330-300 on this corridor, with the type operating three flights a week in November and four flights a week from December through to late March. In August and September of this year, Air Canada is also deploying Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners on this route.

Montréal is the only North American destination to which Lyon has a nonstop aerial link, but Air Canada is not the only carrier offering such flights. Indeed, Air Transat also has a strong presence on this route, which it divides between its Airbus A321LRs, A330-200s, and A330-300s. With Air Transat primarily being a lower-cost leisure-focused airline, Air Canada likely handles the bulk of the premium demand.

Air Canada’s Airbus A321XLR Fleet In A Nutshell

Credit: Air Canada

According to present fleet data made available by ch-aviation, Air Canada currently has just two examples of the Airbus A321XLR (aged 0.3 years old on average, compared to a fleet-wide mean of 16.3 years old) at its disposal. Going forward, however, it has plans to significantly grow this part of its fleet, with another 28 outstanding orders set to bring its total sub-fleet size for the type to a strong 30.

On board, the carrier favors a two-class layout, with aeroLOPA showing that this setup can accommodate a grand total of 182 flyers. Of these, 14 are seated in Air Canada’s ‘Signature’ business class, with luxurious flatbeds laid out in a 1-1 configuration but, unfortunately, facing away from the window. Meanwhile, the economy section has 168 seats, with a standard pitch of 31 inches and five inches of recline.