Good morning from Vancouver, British Columbia!
My name is Alex, and today I’m flying on an Airbus A319 with Air Canada.
Except that… it’s May 2022 and weren’t these planes supposed to be retired, like, a year ago?
Well, back in the spring of 2020, Air Canada announced that they were retiring 79 older
aircraft, which included all of the Airbus A319s flying for mainline Air Canada at the time.
As the year dragged on, that retirement was pushed back a bit,
with the final mainline A319 flight taking place in February of 2021… Or so it seemed.
A few of these planes have stuck around to this day with Air Canada’s charter subsidiary Jetz,
so even though they were in an all-business class configuration,
they didn’t really feel like they were gone just yet.
Plus, there were a few occasions where you could book a Jetz plane on specific routes,
and some one-off domestic flights. But even then, it seemed safe to say that
you wouldn’t find an Air Canada A319 in a normal configuration ever again.
However, in early 2022, that seemed to change, as this single Airbus A319-100, registered as Charlie
Foxtrot Yankee Kilo Charlie began flying regular flights again, in the standard two-class layout.
This A319 was first delivered to Air Canada back in 1997 and has
flown with them ever since. It was stored in various locations throughout 2020 and 2021
and quietly returned to mainline service in March of this year.
Although the rest of the Airbus narrowbodies are still very much around at AC these days,
when I saw this was operating a Vancouver-Calgary flight, I knew I had to take the opportunity.
It’s not every day you get to fly on a plane that seems to have returned from the grave.
Plus, even though I’ve flown on these planes plenty of times over the years, it’s always
nice to get one last chance, however long these have left at Air Canada. Let’s go fly the 319!
My seat over the Rockies is 13A, one of the Preferred seats in the Economy Class cabin.
As ever, the legroom in a Preferred seat is excellent and the wing view here
is decent enough. The tricky part with the A319 from the wing view connoisseur’s perspective,
is that it’s so short that there aren’t a ton of seats to get that view looking back
at the engine. Those seats that do have a good view, are up front in Business.
And yes, I did consider the usual Business upgrade at check-in but it was
just a bit too steep for my liking today.
Regardless I was still very happy to be on board, and we ended up pushing
back about 5 minutes early! Here’s our departure from YVR, off of runway 08R.
Airborne out of Vancouver, let’s take a look around the cabin.
Each Economy Class seat has the usual tray table that’s fairly sturdy and slides out a bit.
In the roomy seatback pocket is the safety card for this A319, which as I’ve learned from the
comments on earlier videos, is equipped for overwater operations, hence the “M”.
Also here was this new Aeroplan credit card offer and the usual air sickness bag.
The crew also came around handing out Air Canada’s CleanCare kit, which… I’ve opened
far too many of over the last two years to bother talking about. They do include a very comfy mask
though so I’ll happily keep taking these for myself. They also had some earbuds for purchase.
Despite their age, Air Canada’s Airbuses all have in-seat power available, including a universal
power outlet and a USB port which was… a bit nonexistent on my seat for whatever reason.
Amidst all the cloud cover we did get a glimpse of
the landscape below as our crew started a short snack service.
I got this packaged Biscoff cookie plus a napkin having a
slight identity crisis, and a staple of mine on AC’s morning flights, this cup of coffee.
Another thing I’ve talked plenty about is the in-flight entertainment system on these Airbuses,
and essentially, it’s there and it works. Despite the loading speeds,
I can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic every time I bring up the moving map.
What I really like about Air Canada’s older livery, which seems to have held up surprisingly
well on this plane, is that when the light is just right, the paint actually does sparkle a bit.
Air Canada’s standard A319 cabin has 120 seats on board, with 14 in Business, and 106 in Economy.
It’s virtually identical to the A320 and A321 cabins, just on a shorter plane instead. Now,
the big question still remains, why did this plane make a reappearance in normal service?
Well, I spoke with the crew afterwards and they said that there were a couple other
A319s coming back into mainline service, as extra capacity for the summer season.
Whether that’s actually the case or not, it would make sense.
If these planes have already been paid for and have some extra hours before their next
major maintenance cycle, it’s a relatively inexpensive way to add some extra airplanes.
Considering the interiors also still hold up pretty well,
it’s not like any passenger would ever notice this plane hadn’t flown for a bit.
Well, unless you’re an aviation enthusiast and like me, you care about these
really specific airplane types. But hey, isn’t that what this channel’s all about?
In flying on the 319, there’s a bit of nostalgia in it for me too,
since I’ve flown on them countless times over the years, and they’re even some of
the earliest videos on the channel. Which, trust me, you should NOT go looking for.
The Vancouver-Calgary route is just long enough
for that drink service and to take in the views of the Rockies below.
Soon enough we were descending into Calgary, and here’s the arrival onto YYC’s runway 17R.
So that was Air Canada’s Airbus A319!
Given what took place over the last two years, it was really nice to fly on one of these again,
and I’m glad a couple of those 79 planes seem to have survived for the moment.
Even then, I think it shows the resilience of Air Canada’s operations and just how
much they can do with planes that may have been otherwise discarded by other carriers.
That’s true of the 767s too, which were also part of the 79 retired planes.
Despite the fact that they were pushing 30 years old and were one of the first to go,
they do have a lot of life left as freighters.
In the case of the A319 though, its own… original retirement was more likely due to the
inherent inefficiencies of a shrunken airplane type, but as unique as it is,
it clearly still has some use for the airline.
But realistically, it’s still another Airbus, and no ordinary
passenger would possibly notice the difference between this and an A320.
Of course though, that weirdly-specific side of aviation is what I live for, and so for that,
and the nostalgia element, I was very happy to have flown Air Canada’s A319 one more time.
Thank you so much for watching this trip report and I’ll see you in the next one.