Air Canada Launching Manila Flights: YES!!

Intro

There are certain routes that I get excited about when they are announced, and then there are other routes that I get ecstatic about when announced. This is one that falls in the latter category, as the Philippines is one of my favorite countries in Asia.

The Details

As of April 2nd, 2025, Air Canada has just announced a brand new destination for them in Asia: Manila. Air Canada plans to fly 787-9 four times weekly between Vancouver and Manila on a year-round basis. The service will operate the 6500 odd-mile westbound trek on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, while the return will operate on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays with the following schedule:

AC17: Vancouver to Manila departing 1:55 AM arriving 6:20 AM (+1 day)

AC18: Manila to Vancouver departing 9:25 AM arriving 6:20 AM

Air Canada will use its 787-9 for this new route, featuring 30 business class pods, 21 premium economy seats, and 247 economy seats.

Very recently, I had the opportunity to fly the Air Canada 787-9 in Business Class, and it was stellar! Quite the contrary to the other recent flight I had on the 777-300... Pick seat 8K on the 787-9!

Air Canada 787-9 Business Class

My Thoughts

As I mentioned in the intro, this is a route that really excites me for a number of reasons. For starters, it was a huge deal when United announced their Manila service last year, and it seems like the flight has been doing quite well, at least the time I flew it, that is for sure...

Secondly, it's nice to see the Philippines get some more competition outside of PAL in Northern America. If you wanted to go on vacation to the Philippines, you would previously either need to fly directly to Manila with PAL or connect through TPE/HKG, etc. It also helps that this is Star Alliance 😉.

Lastly, I am impressed with Air Canada and how far they have come as an airline in terms of expansion. They are currently the only airline to have nonstop service from Bangkok to North America, and they seem to keep expanding their TPACs to all sorts of new destinations. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Denpasar get thrown in there sometime in the near future.

Final Thoughts

Air Canada has just announced that as of April 2nd, 2025, they will be launching a 4x weekly service from Vancouver to Manila with a 787-9. Air Canada has rapidly been growing their long-haul network, and this is just another way that the airline continues to impress me.