Air Canada opens new operations centre

BRAMPTON, Ontario—After two years and $60 million, Air Canada’s new global operations centre (OC) is finished.

Described by the Montreal, Quebec-based company as “state of the art”, the 75,000sqf OC will serve as the central control for employe 400 people on a 24/7 basis who will be monitoring, planning and controlling almost 600 flights per day.

Although the building is complete and the systems have been installed, the OC won’t be put into operation right away. Instead there will be a period of testing, training and transitioning for the next few months. The control centre is scheduled to be fully functional in the first quarter of 2014.

“We can expect important efficiencies with teams from all areas of the operation including operations control, flight dispatch, airports, revenue management, maintenance, crew scheduling, cargo, Air Canada rouge and customer journey management working under one roof to get our customers to their destinations safely, on-time and comfortably,” said Air Canada president and CEO Calin Rovinescu.

In addition to the operational areas mentioned above, activities at the global operations centre will include:

• decision-making on operating flights within 48 hours of scheduled departure

• ensuring appropriate resources, such as crews and aircraft, are available

• schedule changes and cancellations, including aircraft changes or extra flight additions, in response to unforeseen circumstances

• leading preparations for disruptions, such as winter storms, and developing and implementing recovery plans.

Air Canada says the facility came in on time and within the budget.