I flew on Air Canada’s VIP A320!
This unusual flight took me from Calgary to Ottawa on board one of their exclusive
“Jetz” planes.
Now you might ask, what are those exactly?
Well, in addition to their regular flights, Air Canada operates one Airbus A319 and a
few A320s for charters, which have only Business Class seats on board.
These are the planes that fly NHL teams around North America, and they’re usually pretty
busy during hockey season.
However, sometimes they do need to reposition planes around the country for specific teams’
needs.
At the end of March, I got a message that some of those repositioning flights were being
sold by Air Canada as something that you could actually book.
I later found out on Facebook that one of those happened to be this early morning one
from Calgary to Ottawa.
“Well this looks like a good use of my time.”
So, against my better judgement, I woke up early and got myself to YYC for what was bound
to be quite the interesting flight.
Air Canada was selling this flight as Economy only, which for the seats you get on those
planes is a pretty sweet deal.
It only showed up on the site a few days before the flight though so this was also bound to
be a bit empty.
Waiting at gate C56 was the A320 taking us to Ottawa, this 31-year-old A320-211 registered
as Charlie Foxtrot Kilo Papa Tango.
Despite being one of Air Canada’s oldest planes at 31 years old, it actually got repainted
last year.
Then again, it was not looking too great, so I can see why they did that especially
for the Jetz flights.
Interestingly though, the A320s that are flying for Jetz don’t have the “Jetz” branding
on them like some of the A319s did.
Ultimately I guess that doesn’t really matter much since the special part of this is the
interior anyway.
It’s worth mentioning that I have had the privilege of flying Jetz as a normal passenger
before, in June of 2020, on their A319.
On that flight, they had this older interior, but this A320 apparently has an updated cabin…
Let’s go check that out!
On some of their Jetz A320s, Air Canada has revamped the interiors, or at the least, reupholstered
the seats, making this cabin look very sharp!
My seat for today is 2A, in the bulkhead row on the left.
The Jetz A320s have 66 seats on board, and these are all the same type of seats as the
older blue ones, but feel much newer.
As I was kind of expected, this seat has lots of space.
The cutouts in the bulkhead are fantastic for legroom, too.
I wish they’d have those on some of their other planes, especially the MAXs and A220s!
With this pretty light load, only 12 passengers ended up boarding, and the crew were nice
enough to hand out these water bottles.
I’ll show the rest once we’re in the air, but just sitting here, you can already see
how different the updated cabin feels.
It kinda gives me hope for a potential cabin refit on some of their A321s.
With that, we were on our way out from Calgary and here’s the takeoff from runway 35R.
After being serenaded by CFM56s first thing in the morning, that sunrise was just perfection!
Looking around the seat here, you can tell it’s much different than the usual North
American business class ones.
Up front is this decently sized seatback pocket, which had the usual air sickness bags, and
interestingly, a Jetz-specific safety card!
On the left side of the seat is this tray table that folds out from the armrest across
your lap.
On the opposite side are two cup holders, as well as a shelf for drinks and another
retractable one next to that too.
At the front, you’ll also find these universal power outlets.
Now these seats all have motorized controls, but I’ll take a look at those later.
I‘d rather show that in an emptier part of the plane.
Pretty soon after takeoff, the crew came around with the inflight service.
The Air Canada Jetz planes are known for some pretty extravagant catering when they’re
in charter service, but because this was ultimately an Economy fare, that was the level of catering
we got.
The crew went through the cabin with the usual Air Canada Bistro stuff, but surprisingly
enough, it was all complimentary!
I went with a Kit Kat, as well as this smoked salmon sandwich, and my usual cup of Coke.
That salmon sandwich was surprisingly tasty.
I think that’s the first time I’ve seen that particular choice on an Air Canada flight,
and I’d certainly have it again!
After that, I got up to take a better look around as we passed over Saskatchewan.
Like I mentioned, Air Canada Jetz’ A320s seat 66 passengers in this all-business-class
configuration.
The non bulkhead seats all still have tons of space, and I really like the little embroidered
rondelles they have in a bunch of places.
It is a bit strange sitting in the very back in a Business Class seat, not to mention only
having 12 passengers on the entire plane to begin with!
Like I was saying before, these buttons on the side control this movable footrest, as
well as lumbar support, and the actual recline of the seat.
The headrests are all adjustable too and go up pretty high.
It’s also worth mentioning just how ridiculously comfortable these seats are.
You can see how much padding they have compared to the usual domestic business class seats.
That’s not to mention just how crisp these new seats look.
The black leather look is a big improvement!
On the Jetz A320, the back lavatory is pretty normal, maybe slightly bigger, and also has
the nice soap and hand cream you usually see in Business Class.
Another quirk of the Jetz A320 is that they have these two tables at row 12 and 13, with
the seats in row 12 facing backwards!
That’s not something you usually see on any sort of airliner these days!
Also, since the A320 has two overwing exits, the exit row, row 9, has this almost comical
amount of floor space!
Now, as for the actual story behind this flight, I did chat with the crew a bit just out of
curiosity.
They, by the way, were so friendly and more than happy to chat.
One of them also happens to watch these videos, so uh… hi!
Anyway, I’m told that normally, Air Canada cabin crew have to apply and interview for
a Jetz assignment.
If they’re selected, they stay with that team and or airplane for most of hockey season.
In today’s case, they were regular crew that were all on reserve and got called in
to operate this, so they saw the seat map and it was just as much of a surprise to them
as it was to the rest of us!
Apparently though, the NHL teams had already paid for the fuel as part of their contract,
and so since there was a cabin crew available I guess somebody at Air Canada decided, “let’s
make this a revenue flight”.
And I’m certainly glad they did!
This was such a cool flight to be on, and the fact that it was the newer cabin too,
was just icing on the cake.
Plus, it being a much longer flight than that Toronto to Montreal one gave me way more time
to appreciate it!
I suppose one downside from a normal A320 is that there isn’t any entertainment, but
they still had wifi available for purchase.
I ended up just watching the views outside instead, and moved to the very back for a
bit…
just because I could.
Full recline in these seats is very relaxing!
As predicted, it got a quite bit bumpier as we passed over western Ontario and approached
the Great Lakes.
I eventually moved back up to the front as we started the descent into Ottawa.
Here’s the arrival onto runway 07!
So, that was a rare opportunity to fly on one of Air Canada’s most exclusive planes!
Air Canada’s Jetz operation is certainly a unique one among most legacy airlines, and
I think it’s so cool that you can occasionally luck out with one of these planes on a normal
revenue flight.
The idea of flying on an all-business class plane within Canada for the price of an Economy
fare is pretty insane to think about.
That plus the new interior made this flight one to remember, and it is thanks to fellow
eagle-eyed aviation enthusiasts for noticing this in the first place!
A big thank you to our crew on this flight as well!
I think they definitely appreciated what a unique opportunity this was too.
So yeah, that was a very unique and very enjoyable flight with Air Canada, and I’m super glad
to have flown on their VIP A320.
Thanks so much for watching this trip report with Air Canada Jetz, and I’ll see you next
time!