Air Canada to restore Vancouver-Miami service after 18-year hiatus

In what will be Vancouver’s longest U.S. route, Air Canada is re-connecting service from Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to Miami International Airport (MIA).

It’s a move that reconnects the two airports after an 18-year hiatus, and represents a significant addition to Air Canada's network.

As Simple Flying points out, not only was Miami Vancouver's second-largest unserved U.S. destination (behind Fort Lauderdale), but Vancouver was Miami's largest unserved Canadian market.

The route will launch just before Christmas, on Dec. 17, and use 169-seat B737 MAX 8s.

Miami will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays with the following schedule (all times are local).

• Vancouver to Miami: AC1034, 08:20-17:06 (5h 46m block time)
• Miami to Vancouver: AC1035, 18:00-21:45 (6h 45m)

The route is expected to run year-round.

Air Transat, notably, previously launched a twice-weekly service from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale (which is roughly a 30 to 40-minute drive north of Miami) in late 2019, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic cut that service in March 2020.

The return of connectivity between Vancouver and Miami is expected to be a boon to the cruise industry as both cities are home to ports of calls that are utilized by several cruise lines.

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