Air Canada to launch new route from Vancouver to Bangkok, Thailand

The Wat Phra Kaew Temple in Bangkok, Thailand. (Shutterstock)

Starting at the end of 2022, on a winter seasonal basis, Vancouver will have a new non-stop flight route to southeast Asia, reaching the capital of Thailand.

Air Canada announced this week it will operate a new route between Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK). This will be the flag carrier’s first non-stop service to southeast Asia, a route that did not exist prior to the pandemic.

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Flights will be frequent, departing four times weekly each way using the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Starting on December 1, 2022, flights will depart YVR at 11 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, and arrive at BKK two days later at 5:55 am.

For the return trip from BKK, starting on December 4, flights will leave at 8:30 am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, and land at YVR at 6:35 am the same day.

The Bangkok skyline and the Golden Grand Palace. (Shutterstock)

The YVR-BKK route is currently tentatively only expected to run on a seasonal basis until the middle of April 2023, but it is within the realm of possibility that the airline could re-evaluate this based on the service’s performance.

“We are extremely pleased to be launching our first non-stop service to South-East Asia this winter, the only one between North America and Thailand,” said Mark Galardo, senior vice president of network planning and revenue management for Air Canada, in a statement.

“For further convenience, our Bangkok flights will connect to our extensive domestic and trans-border network giving customers added seamlessness and choice when travelling.”

Links between YVR and Southeast Asia have been greatly strengthened recently, following the implementation of Singapore Airlines’ route to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN). Singapore Airlines launched its YVR route in late 2021 originally on a seasonal basis, but early this year it made the decision to continue the route’s operation until at least the end of October 2022, flying three times weekly. Singapore Airlines is expected to make a decision later this summer on whether to further extend its YVR route.

Air Canada to restart previous Trans-Pacific services

In addition to launching the new BKK route, Air Canada has indicated it will be restarting several pre-pandemic routes later this year.

The YVR to Delhi, India route will resume on October 1, 2022, with three weekly flights, and a technical stop in Dublin, Ireland for the outbound flight.

Air Canada’s seasonal route from YVR to Auckland, New Zealand will also restart on November 10 with three flights weekly. This will increase to five flights weekly between December 2022 and March 2023.

Frequencies to Australia will also be increased late this year; Air Canada will increase its frequency for the YVR to Brisbane route to five times weekly in December 2022, while the YVR to Sydney route will increase to 10 times weekly for December 2022 and January 2023.

YVR Airport New Flights 2020-2022

May 2, 2020: Istanbul, Turkey (IST) — Turkish Airlines, 3x weekly
December 2, 2021: Singapore (SIN) — Singapore Airlines, 3x weekly
May 1, 2022: Halifax, Nova Scotia (YHZ) — Air Canada, 5x weekly
May 16, 2022: Kelowna, BC (YLW) — Flair Airlines, 3x weekly
May 17, 2022: San Francisco, California (SFO) — Flair Airlines, 3x weekly
May 2, 2022: Quebec City, Quebec — Air Canada Rouge, 3x weekly (summer seasonal)
June 1, 2022: Austin, Texas — Air Canada, 4x weekly
June 15, 2022: Minneapolis, Minnesota (MSP) — Sun Country Airlines, 2x weekly (summer seasonal)
June 9, 2022: New York City (JFK) — JetBlue, daily
December 1, 2022: Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) — Air Canada, 4x weekly (winter seasonal)

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