Air Canada (AC, Montréal Trudeau) is in advanced talks with Boeing to acquire between 15 and twenty B787s, according to Bloomberg. The report cites "people familiar with the matter," but did not specify which variants of the type were being considered.
Air Canada presently operates eight B787-8s and thirty B787-9s (with a further two on order). The ch-aviation fleets module shows that beyond those two undelivered aircraft, Air Canada has no other outstanding widebody aircraft orders. Boeing's latest undelivered order data, valid as of April 30, shows that it has a B787 delivery backlog of 481 aircraft.
In addition to flying on domestic trunk routes between Calgary, Montréal Trudeau, Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver International at peak periods during the week, Air Canada deploys its B787s on long haul routes to the UK and Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America, as well as shorter sectors into their bigger US ports.
"We continue to always hunt for lift, as we've said before in our process," Air Canada CFO Amos Kazzaz said during an analysts briefing last week. "When we see recovery and strong demand, we have the ability to go out and search for additional interim lift. We're constantly in the market looking for lift."
An Air Canada spokesperson says no decision has been made regarding any B787 order.
