Air Canada and flydubai have announced a partnership that provides additional connectivity options for passengers travelling to the Indian Subcontinent, East Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Through the partnership, passengers will be able to connect via Dubai to some destinations serviced by flydubai in the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent on a single ticket, as well as to over 60 flydubai destinations through an interline agreement.

Air Canada Adds Partnership with flydubai

Air Canada and flydubai have announced details of a new partnership that gives passengers more options when connecting in Dubai to a number of destinations in the Middle East, East Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, and South Asia.

Air Canada’s marketing code will be placed on a handful of flydubai routes departing from Dubai (DXB), including Medina (MED), Dammam (DMM), Bahrain (BAH), Jeddah (JED), Muscat (MCT), Colombo (CMB), and Karachi (KHI). If the partnership receives final regulatory approval, passengers will be able to travel these markets on a single ticket.

Through a new interline agreement between Air Canada and flydubai, passengers will have the option to connect in Dubai to over 60 destinations serviced by flydubai. These include many locations in the Middle East, East Africa, and South Asia, with over 30 destinations that are not flown by any of Air Canada’s other partners.

flydubai has a fleet of over 75 Boeing 737 two-cabin aircraft that offer business class and economy. 

Seats are now available on Air Canada’s website, through the Air Canada call centres, and via travel agents. flydubai flights are not able to be booked with Aeroplan points as of yet.

Will flydubai Become Aeroplan’s Next Partner?

As part of the announcement, it was also noted that the airlines plan on further improving the connection process in Dubai, and are working toward introducing expanded features and benefits for each other’s loyalty programs.

Naturally, this begs the question if flydubai will be announced as an Aeroplan partner airline later on this year. While there haven’t been any official announcements yet, it wouldn’t come as a surprise, especially since the press release indicated as such.

As of now, there are no reciprocal earning or redemption benefits between Air Canada and flydubai; however, if the partnership is further expanded in the future, we’d expect news about that to come, too.

As a reminder, Canada and the United Arab Emirates expanded their air transport agreement earlier this year. Since then, we’ve seen a number of new and expanded route announcements from Air Canada, Emirates, and Etihad Airways.

For its part, Air Canada launched a new route between Vancouver (YVR) and Dubai (DXB), which is set to commence on October 28, 2023.

In April, Emirates upped its service between Dubai (DXB) and Toronto (YYZ) to daily, and also will add a new route to Montreal as of July 5, 2023. 

Etihad Airways is also set to increase its service between Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Toronto (YYZ) to daily as of May 30, 2023.

Conclusion

Air Canada and flydubai have announced details of a partnership, which will see greater connectivity between Air Canada and flydubai flights. 

Pending regulatory approval, Air Canada’s marketing code will be added to a handful of flydubai routes, which would let customers fly the markets on a single ticket. 

Through an interline agreement, Air Canada customers will be able to connect to more than 60 of flydubai’s destinations across the Middle East, East Africa, South Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent.

Later this year, it’s expected that there will be a further announcement about expanded benefits and features for members of each other’s loyalty programs, which may include being able to book flydubai flights with Aeroplan points.