JOHANNESBURG and EDMONTON, Alberta, May
30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Air Canada flight AC7007
departed O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa early today en
route to Edmonton, Alberta with
300 South African firefighters on board. It is carrying the largest
number of wildland firefighters ever brought into Canada. The Air Canada Boeing 777-200LR is
carrying firefighters from South
Africa's Working on Fire Program
(http://www.workingonfire.org) who will assist in firefighting
efforts underway in Northern
Alberta. It is also that organization's largest-ever
deployment.
"Air Canada's employees have once again risen to the challenge
to make this mission possible," said Marcel
Forget, Senior Vice President, Commercial Strategy, whose
responsibilities include the airline's network planning and
scheduling. "This is the first time Air Canada has operated into
South Africa, which also required
rescheduling flights to make one of our largest aircraft available
in order to accommodate this request. We are extremely honoured to
be able to support the firefighting underway in Northern Alberta, and on behalf of all Air
Canada employees, I sincerely thank the men and women of the
Working on Fire program for the invaluable contribution they will
make on the ground."
"We are proud of our South African fire fighters from our
Working on Fire programme and we no doubt believe that they will do
us proud to provide these essential services to Canada," said Llewellyn Pillay, Managing Director, Working on
Fire. "We are immensely proud of the fact that the international
firefighting community has recognised the skills and expertise
within Working on Fire to provide essential integrated fire
management services at an international level. We are grateful also
for this partnership between CIFFC and for the contribution of Air
Canada in bringing our fire fighters safely to Canada."
"On behalf of the Canadian Wildland Fire Community we offer our
gratitude and thanks to Air Canada for helping transport the South
African Firefighters to Alberta," said Kim
Connors, Executive Director, Canadian Interagency Forest
Fire Centre. "This mobilization represents the largest group of
wildland firefighters ever brought into Canada. Air Canada's willingness to make such a large
aircraft available is greatly appreciated."
Air Canada is operating this
flight on behalf of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre
(http://www.ciffc.ca) in cooperation with the Alberta Government
with 17 Air Canada crew members on board. Flight 7007 will make a
brief stop in Barbados for
refueling and change of crew before arriving in Edmonton Sunday evening, 22 hours after
departing South Africa.
Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international
airline serving more than 200 airports on six continents.
Canada's flag carrier is among the
20 largest airlines in the world and in 2015 served more than 41
million customers. Air Canada
provides scheduled passenger service directly to 64 airports in
Canada, 55 in the United States and 87 in Europe, the Middle
East, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central
America and South America.
Air Canada is a founding member of
Star Alliance, the world's most
comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,330 airports in
192 countries. Air Canada is the
only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking
according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax. For more
information, please visit: http://www.aircanada.com, follow
@AirCanada on Twitter and join Air Canada on Facebook.
Note to News and Photo Editors:
Photos are now available for download at:
http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/media/facts/ac7007.html
Media availability for the arrival of flight AC7007, expected at
approximately 21:30 MT at
Edmonton International Airport,
may be arranged by contacting Edmonton Airport Authority, Corporate
Communications directly:
Heather Hamilton, Director,
Public Affairs at Edmonton
International Airport
Mobile: +1-780-884-2966
Email: hhamilton@flyeia.com
Air Canada Contacts: Isabelle
Arthur (Montréal), Isabelle.arthur@aircanada.ca,
+1-514-422-5788; Peter Fitzpatrick
(Toronto),
peter.fitzpatrick@aircanada.ca, +1-416-263-5576; Angela Mah (Vancouver), angela.mah@aircanada.ca ,
+1-604-270-5741; Internet: aircanada.com
Image with caption: "Air Canada Flies 300 Firefighters from
Johannesburg, South Africa to
Assist with Alberta Wild Fire (CNW
Group/Air Canada)". Image available at:
http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160529_C8018_PHOTO_EN_701710.jpg