First announced in July 2022, Air Canada and Emirates have now launched a new strategic partnership.
This partnership begins with a codeshare arrangement and interline connectivity, with a view to eventually expand reciprocal earning, redemptions, and frequent flyer benefits.
New Air Canada and Emirates Codeshare Partnership
Air Canada and Emirates’s new strategic partnership has launched as of today.
The two airlines have established 35 specific routes as codeshare services, with 11 more to come subject to final regulatory approval, and the potential to encompass even more routes in the future.
This means that select Air Canada-operated flights will also be bookable under an Emirates flight number, and vice versa, including:
- Emirates flights to Colombo, Dhaka, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Bangkok, Hanoi, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jeddah, Muscat, Addis Ababa, and Dar Es Salaam
- Air Canada flights to Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver
In addition, customers will enjoy seamless connections along these journeys, with all flights issued on a single ticket and bags tagged through to the final destination.
Coming Soon: Reciprocal Earning, Redemptions, and Benefits
While the partnership launches with codesharing and interline connectivity, Air Canada and Emirates have also confirmed that the next phase of their relationship will encompass reciprocal earning, redemptions, and frequent flyer benefits.
Reciprocal frequent flyer benefits and lounge access are also on the table, ensuring a more seamless journey for each airline’s most loyal passengers.
Aeroplan Elite Status members – and Super Elites in particular – can expect to enjoy many of their benefits when travelling with Emirates, such as priority boarding or check-in and access to Emirates’s extensive network of outstation lounges around the world.
Likewise, Emirates Skywards elite members would be able to enjoy priority access on Air Canada flights and access Maple Leaf Lounges, and it sounds like there are further deeper reciprocal benefits to expect for elite members of various tiers in each program as well.
Most exciting, however, is the tantalizing prospect of being able to earn and redeem Aeroplan points and Skywards miles on a reciprocal basis.
When this partnership was first announced, I was skeptical that this would be the case, and it appears I’ll be proven wrong here.
However, does this mean that we’ll soon be able to redeem 130,000 Aeroplan points for a luxurious flight in Emirates First Class en route to Dubai, as per the Flight Reward Chart? I’m not so sure.
After all, consider the fact that Emirates has been aggressively limiting access to its awards to members of its own Skywards program, and cutting off access from its erstwhile partners like Alaska Mileage Plan and JetBlue TrueBlue.
While I could certainly see Emirates economy class and perhaps business class awards coming online as per the existing chart, my sense is that Emirates First Class redemptions might be subject to some kind of special treatment, given Emirates’s recent tendency to gate off this aspirational redemption as much as possible.
No doubt, however, I’d love to see the ability to redeem Aeroplan points on Emirates First Class becoming a reality, and I’ll make sure to down a few extra glasses of Dom Perignon at the Emirates A380 onboard bar to celebrate if that’s the case.
Conclusion
Air Canada and Emirates have launched an exciting new partnership. Starting today, the two airlines will begin offering codeshare service and interline connectivity, allowing for seamless connectivity at the airlines’ respective hubs in Toronto and Dubai.
Even more excitingly, the partnership promises to evolve in the near future, with reciprocal earning, redemptions, frequent flyer benefits, and lounge access to come.
This promises to be one of the most unique and exciting inter-airline partnerships in the industry, so we’ll keenly anticipate the full details as we hold out hope for the ability to shower in the sky thanks to your Aeroplan points.