Customers aboard Air Canada flight AC692 operated with Fin 451 (C-GITU) on Saturday shared a stunning view of takeoff thanks to new exterior cameras connected to the seatback entertainment system. The new camera feature, the first on a narrowbody aircraft, is one of the innovations introduced with the airline's first updated Airbus A321, which has been redesigned from nose to tail.
Air Canada continues to invest in the comfort of its customers across its fleet of Airbus A321 and A320, which will feature a new cabin interior, new technologies and services such as Bluetooth audio and free high-speed Internet sponsored by Bell.
"We are proud to welcome our customers on board to experience the comfort, convenience and connectivity of our latest cabins. These upgraded fleet interiors will align the A320 and A321 with the highly popular A220 experience, further strengthening our industry-leading product offering," said Mark Nasr, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Digital and President of Aeroplan. "In addition, new features such as our in-flight entertainment system that streams images from the aircraft's exterior cameras, Bluetooth connectivity and free, fast Internet connection will be very popular with travelers. We will continue to advance our product leadership by testing more new experiences through board with this A321 and expanding those learnings to additional aircraft in our fleet."
Highlights of the new cabin features:
Larger overhead bins: Latest Airbus Airspace XL design, the largest overhead bins in its class that will also be fitted to the Airbus A321XLR.
Improved seats: They present a standardized product across Air Canada's entire fleet of narrow-body aircraft, both in Business and Economy class. The new seats are designed to optimize passengers' personal space, improve ergonomics and offer more storage space, providing customers with a more comfortable experience.
Bluetooth Audio: Air Canada's new IFE system will include a seatback Bluetooth monitor. Our customers will be able to connect their personal headphones while watching a video, live television, listening to podcasts or music. This initiative helps reduce the use of single-use headsets and supports Air Canada's sustainability goals in reducing waste.
New exterior cameras: Our customers can now see their flight live thanks to a new tail and ventral camera system for narrowbody aircraft, the first of its kind, which provides real-time high-resolution video of the exterior of the aircraft.
Full-color LED ambient lighting: The new cabin lighting system will allow different environments to be created depending on the time of day and the phase of the flight.
Fast and reliable Wi-Fi: improved satellite connectivity.
Power options in all seats: All our customers have access to power, USB-A and USB-C outlets.
The new IFE system being installed on the Airbus A321 and A320 fleets will feature Air Canada's award-winning in-flight entertainment via screens in every seat, offering the broadest overall content of any airline in the Americas. Our customers will also enjoy live television on their flights with this new cabin, with BNN, CTV, LCN, RDS, TSN1 and TSN2 available on all flights operated by this aircraft, even when flying over the United States.
Air Canada's remaining 14 Airbus A321s and eight A320s will be modernized from this fall until the end of 2025. With these upgrades, customers will benefit from an elevated narrowbody cabin experience, in line with the cabins of Airbus A220 aircraft. and Boeing 737 MAX that make up the majority of Air Canada's narrowbody fleet.
The new cabin also reduces the overall weight of the A321 by approximately 240 kilograms, which will reduce fuel consumption of the entire fleet once the works are completed by more than 2.4 million liters and reduce GHG emissions by 6,256 tCO2 equivalent. per year, or the equivalent of the electricity used annually by 4,185 Canadian households.