Air Canada to Resume Vancouver–Dubai Route

Air Canada will resume its non-stop seasonal flights from Dubai (DXB) to Vancouver (YVR) for the upcoming 2024–2025 winter season. The airline will begin with three weekly flights on October 26, 2024, and will then add a fourth weekly flight scheduled to begin December 2, 2024.

The Vancouver route complements Air Canada’s daily year-round flights between Dubai and Toronto (YYZ).

Air Canada to Resume Vancouver–Dubai Route

Air Canada is set to resume its Dubai–Vancouver route on October 26, 2024, from Vancouver and October 28, 2024 from Dubai, with 3x-weekly flights, and a fourth weekly flight set to begin on December 2nd, 2024. These 4x-weekly flights are scheduled to continue until March 29th, 2025, in line with the winter timetable determined by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The flight times are as follows:

• AC78 Vancouver (YVR) to Dubai (DXB), departing 10:05pm and arriving 12:05am (2 days later)
• AC79 Dubai (DXB) to Vancouver (YVR), departing 2:05am and arriving 5:55am

The timings are mainly designed to serve passengers connecting to onward destinations with Air Canada’s non-alliance partners, Emirates and flydubai. As part of a single interline booking with Air Canada or Aeroplan, passengers can conveniently book connecting flights on Emirates or flydubai to the Middle East, Eastern Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia.

For instance, with a two-hour layover, a traveller departing from Vancouver can connect to Emirates Flight 654 bound for Malé in the Maldives, leaving at 2am.

The route will be served by Air Canada’s flagship Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The three-class aircraft offers Signature Class, premium economy, and economy cabins.

Air Canada 787 business class

The flights are already loaded and bookable through Air Canada’s sales channels, including the Air Canada website and the Aeroplan search engine.

Booking Air Canada’s New Vancouver–Dubai Flights

Should you wish to redeem points on this route, you should naturally check through Air Canada’s Aeroplan first, since you’ll have access to every seat on the flight.

The flight between Vancouver and Dubai covers a great-circle distance of 7,300 miles, placing it under the third distance band on Aeroplan’s “Between North America and Atlantic zones” redemption chart.

In theory, you may snag a business class seat on this route for as low as 90,000 points. However, with Air Canada’s dynamic pricing scheme, you’ll likely end up paying more.

With no other carrier flying non-stop between Vancouver to Dubai and the rest of the Middle East, you can expect prices (in points or cash) to be high, especially during the first few months.

For instance, a business class seat on the inaugural flight on October 26, 2024 costs a whopping 341,400 Aeroplan points.

There’s good news, though: if you have have any tier of Aeroplan Elite Status and therefore access to eUpgrade credits, you can check for eUpgrade space, which is available on quite a few dates on this new route.

With the “Latitude Attitude”, you’ll paying substantially less, in the range of 110,000 Aeroplan points one-way for an Economy (Latitude) redemption that you can then instantly upgrade into business class.

Conclusion

Air Canada is set to resume its Vancouver to Dubai route this fall beginning with 3x-weekly service on October 26, 2024, and operating through to March 29, 2025. The airline will add a fourth weekly flight beginning on December 2, 2024 which will also operate until March 29, 2025.

The flights are already loaded and bookable through Air Canada’s sales channels, including the Air Canada website and the Aeroplan search engine if you’re looking to book and redeem points.

However, on such a premium-heavy and in-demand route, you can expect to pay a significant amount of Aeroplan points to book a business class seat, but you can leverage your eUpgrades with the “Latitude Attitude” to pay significantly fewer points.