New Air Canada lounges for Toronto, San Francisco, Montreal, Vancouver

Air Canada plans to open four new lounges in the coming years as well as begin a refresh of key Maple Leaf Lounges to embrace a fresh look and feel which will also be seen on the forthcoming Airbus A321XLR jets and the twin-aisle Boeing fleet.

Mark Nasr, Air Canada’s Executive Vice President Marketing and Digital, says the overall aim is to elevate the ground experience to match the in-air experience, with the recognition that lounges are getting busier but must also remain “special.”

“I think airport infrastructure is not scaling to passenger demand, and so what’s happened is airports, particularly in the western world, have become more crowded,” he tells Executive Traveller.

“So lounges are growing in terms of their importance to create a respite from the hustle and bustle of what’s going on in the terminal.”

“More of our eligible customers – business class passengers, our elite travellers and premium credit card holders – are using lounges than ever before, and they're spending longer in the lounges than they were previously.”

“That tells us we need to keep the lounges special, and that they need to be bigger, they need to have more facilities.”

Toronto’s Signature Suite lounge will see more seating to cater for the increase in business class travel.

Nasr says an average of 30% additional seating is being added to domestic Maple Leaf Lounges in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, as well as Toronto’s Signature Suite.

Beyond that, the airline is “renovating and expanding our hub lounges throughout Canada in what will probably be a three-year programme.”

Nasr also indicated international Maple Leaf Lounges such as London Heathrow would eventually be upgraded in line with “a new design standard” which will extend to “all facets of our customer-facing experience.”

Air Canada's Maple Leaf Lounge at LHR T2 is on the list for a refresh.

So what’s ahead for the Air Canada loungescape?

An all-new type of lounge at Toronto

Air Canada is set to announce a new Toronto lounge, although Nasr is coy on the details and appears to have a curve ball up his sleeve.

“This lounge is a new model for us, and it might not be quite what you’re expecting.”

Nasr adds that Toronto will serve as a trial for this ‘new model’, which could later be rolled out in other parts of the Air Canada network.

However, Executive Traveller understands this new-concept lounge will open in northern summer 2023, with an official announcement just weeks away, and will offer the following to loungeworthy Air Canada flyers:

• seating for 133 travellers
• a hot and cold buffet
• ‘grab & go’ facility
• a bar
• meetings rooms and (of course) WiFi

San Francisco Maple Leaf Lounge

Late June 2023 will see the official opening of an all-new Maple Leaf Lounge at San Francisco Terminal 2.

This US west coast Maple Leaf Lounge “will be one of the larger lounges in our network, with capacity for over 120 guests,” Nasr says.

There will also be “an outdoor space, a dining facility and a bar,” he shares. "It's really going to be spectacular.”

“We’ve done some unique things with the furniture, with the layout and also with the artwork and the sense of ‘place’ so it will feel uniquely San Francisco.”

Air Canada Cafe, Montreal

Toronto’s unique Air Canada Cafe concept – which provides travellers on the go with a pit-stop alternative to visiting the domestic Maple Leaf Lounge – will spread its wings to land at Montreal in 2024.

Like its stylish Toronto sibling, which debuted in 2019, the Montreal Air Canada Cafe will be an innovative ‘lounge lite’ with barista-pulled coffee (including cold brews), juices, sandwiches, salad bowls and light snacks which can be enjoyed at the cafe or taken on board your flight.

Typically located closer to departure gates than the main Maple Leaf Lounge, this also makes the Air Canada Cafe a convenient drop-by or grab-and-go facility that’s especially suited to busy travellers who are short on time.

“You see these lounges with big signs saying their food is to be consumed in the lounge,” Nasr says.

The innovative Air Canada Cafe concept is spreading its wings to Montreal and Vancouver.

“The Air Canada Cafe concept is the total opposite. Of course you're welcome to consume food and beverages in the lounge but it’s actually meant for you to be able to take that out of the lounge.”

Nasr notes that Air Canada Cafe visitors are very different to the conventional lounge brigade.

“They’re not spending a long time the terminals, they’re just arriving and going, there are shorter dwell times, and we plan to open more Cafe lounges across our network in our key domestic hubs.” 

“We were the first to do a purposeful cafe,” he adds. “Some airlines did a makeshift one, maybe because of renovations or whatever, but we decided to design the cafe as a permanent concept, and it’s been extremely popular with customers.”

Air Canada Cafe, Vancouver

Vancouver is next on the Air Canada Cafe list in 2025, but will represent an “evolution” in the design to become more of a “modern cafe-coworking” space.

“We’ve learned a lot since we launched the first Cafe in Toronto, and we're finding some ways that we’ve already changed the service.”

Vancouver's Air Canada Cafe will be more of a "modern cafe-coworking" space.

“For example, the Cafe was originally positioned predominantly as a before-noon lounge, with coffee and juice but no wine or beer. It had had very good traffic in the morning, then noon came and the lounge was pretty much empty.”

“But what we noticed post-pandemic is the Cafe lounge is now popular right throughout the day, so we’ve made a evening cocktail hour-type service, with beer and wine and hors d’oeuvres.”

“So as we learn and continue to evolve the product, obviously the design will reflect that.”