Mr. Benjamin Smith reports

AIR CANADA INAUGURATES DAILY MONTREAL-WASHINGTON DULLES (IAD) FLIGHTS; ADDS CAPACITY TO NEW YORK, SAN FRANCISCO AND HOUSTON

The departure today of Air Canada flight AC8172 marks the return of daily year-round service between Montreal and Washington Dulles (IAD), offering more choice for customers travelling between Montreal and the Washington, D.C., metro area. In addition to well-timed connections to Air Canada's extensive network to Europe and North Africa, flights will also offer one-stop service to/from Quebec and Eastern Canada, including Bagotville, Sept-Iles, Quebec City, Fredericton, Moncton, Bathurst, Saint John and Halifax.

"We are happy to once again operate Montreal-Washington Dulles (IAD) flights that complement our existing twice daily flights to Washington National Airport and strengthen our market presence in the Washington, D.C., metro area," said Benjamin Smith, president of passenger airlines at Air Canada. "We continue to strategically grow our transborder network with the recently launched Montreal-Dallas service, and added flights to New York, San Francisco and Houston. The transborder capacity increase this summer underscores our commitment to expand our global reach from Montreal-Trudeau, reinforcing it as a hub that offers convenient connections from points throughout Quebec and Eastern Canada, and to Air Canada's extensive international network, including Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt and Casablanca. And our expansion continues next year as we have already announced new 2018 Montreal-Phoenix seasonal service, providing even more choice for our customers in Quebec looking to escape Canadian winters."

The daily non-stop Air Canada Express service will be operated with 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-100 aircraft. All flights provide for Aeroplan accumulation and redemption, Star Alliance reciprocal benefits, and, for eligible customers, priority check-in, Maple Leaf Lounge access, priority boarding and other benefits.

Flight No.            Depart      Time               Arrive        Time 

AC8172         Montreal (YUL)   1:25 p.m.   Washington (IAD)   3:09 p.m.
AC8173       Washington (IAD)   3:40 p.m.     Montreal (YUL)   5:15 p.m. 

Air Canada flies non-stop to the most popular U.S. destinations from Montreal, including New York (LaGuardia and Newark), Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.

In addition, Air Canada is the only carrier at Montreal-Trudeau to fly non-stop to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Denver, Tampa, Fort Myers, West Palm Beach, Hartford and Washington Reagan.

About Air Canada

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline, serving more than 200 airports on six continents. Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2016 served close to 45 million customers. Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 64 airports in Canada, 57 in the United States, and 95 in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network, serving 1,300 airports in 191 countries.