A celebration was held at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) yesterday to mark Air Canada's inaugural flight AC65, which departed last night from YVR. The flight is now enroute to Thailand and scheduled to arrive in Bangkok Saturday morning.

"We are thrilled to launch Air Canada's first non-stop service to Southeast Asia and the only non-stop flights between North America and Thailand. Bangkok is also one of the most visited destinations globally, and we have optimized connections to and from our trans-pacific hub at YVR to give customers convenient travel options to explore this exciting city renowned for its history, cuisine and culture, or to conduct international business trade. This new service from YVR is another step in our ambition to develop this hub into one of the most important trans-pacific gateways in North America. We look forward to welcoming our customers onboard," said Mark Galardo, Senior Vice President – Network Planning and Revenue Management at Air Canada.

"Improving access between countries is crucial to a successful Canadian aviation sector. These flights will allow more travellers to get to their destinations, and will promote growth and prosperity for both Canadian and Thailand's travel industries," said The Honourable Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport - Government of Canada.

"We are thrilled that Air Canada continues to grow its transpacific hub at YVR with the introduction of their new route to Bangkok — the only direct service from North America to Thailand," said Tamara Vrooman, President & CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority. "This new service will provide passengers with incredible tourism options and a broad range of business opportunities in the region. And here in British Columbia this new route will generate $2.8 million in tourism spend and $1.5 million in GDP."

"We are excited to support Air Canada as our country's flag carrier launches its new international service connecting Vancouver and Bangkok, the only direct flight between North America and Thailand," said Jeff Nankivell, President and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. "This new route comes at an exciting time. As the Government of Canada rolls out its ambitious new Indo-Pacific strategy for heightened engagement with the people and economies of this dynamic region, Southeast Asia has been identified as playing a central role in Canada's plans to step up its game in Asia over the next decade, and beyond."