Air Canada has recently acquired their newest fleet addition; the brand new Airbus 220-300 series aircraft. The aircraft were designed by Bombardier aircraft in Quebec, Canada before being acquired by Airbus and rebranded as the 220 series aircraft. With Air Canada ordering 45 Airbus 220 – 300 series aircraft for their smaller jet routes, it seemed like a great time to try them out in Air Canada regional business class.

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This post is one chapter on a winter work trip within Canada. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Air Canada Aeroplan Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Air Canada Business Class A220-3, Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport – Edmonton International Airport

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On a recent business trip within Canada, I found myself on an Air Canada flight between Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport and Edmonton’s International Airport on Air Canada’s newest narrow body aircraft: the Air Canada Airbus 220-300 series aircraft.

After my Air Canada Business Class Montreal – Edmonton (this post), I would end up connecting to an Air Canada Business Class Edmonton – Vancouver flight before returning home.

Departing from Montreal International Airport:

I was visiting Montreal for a series of meetings in the suburb of Montreal Brossard, Quebec area. After a multi day stay at the Courtyard by Marriott Montreal Brossard, I was up at 4:45 AM, leaving the hotel at 5:30 AM for a self drive trip to the Montreal International Airport.

After returning a Hertz President’s Circle car rental in the Montreal International Airport car garage, I headed into the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. Wandering through the airport, I passed by the Air Canada Priority Check In area, located in check in area 100 – 199.

I had previously checked in through the Air Canada app for iPhone. I didn’t have any checked baggage, so I rolled straight through to security. Air Canada Business Class tickets offer priority security screening, as marked on the boarding card.

In addition to Priority Screening, I had a Nexus Card, which offered me front of line security screening located just beyond the Air Canada Priority Services desks. With no one in line at security screening at 6:10 AM, I was through to the secure side using a Nexus Card very quickly and promptly.

The Domestic portion of the Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport is a small and tired facility to most other Canadian airports. It’s dark and cramped hallways are mostly at capacity, although were pretty empty this morning at just past 6 AM when I passed through.

I went and located the nearby Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Montreal Domestic. Access was provided courtesy of the class of ticket on my boarding card. Since my last visit, there haven’t been many changes for the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge. As I’ve reviewed the lounge previously, I won’t do so again. Please feel free to check out that earlier review in order to see the amenities of the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge -Montreal Domestic space.

During my time in the Maple Leaf Lounge, I did happen to get a glance at the Air Canada Airbus 220-300 aircraft pictured above that would be taking us to Edmonton. The plane looked sharp and was virtually indistinguishable from their livery on the larger Airbus 320 series aircraft.

Air Canada
Business Class
YUL – YEG (Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport – Edmonton International Airport)
AC 331 – Business Class (P)

8:10 AM – 11:02 AM
Dec 7, 2023
Booked: Airbus 220-3
Flown: Airbus 220-3

I eventually wandered down to Gate 1 prior to boarding. The gate area was fairly cramped, with standing room only. The gate agent processed a few standby passengers prior to starting the general boarding process.

Since I was early, I was among the first to board with Boarding Zone 1.

On Board Air Canada Business Class:

The Airbus 220-300 series aircraft is Air Canada’s newest fleet addition. The Airbus 220’s joined the Air Canada fleet on January 16, 2020 just prior to the global pandemic. 

This particular Montreal – Edmonton route marked Air Canada’s third longest route by distance, behind Montreal – Calgary coming in at second longest, and Montreal – Los Angeles taking the crown as the longest Air Canada Airbus 220 route currently in the system. With a flight time of four hours and fifty minutes, the flight would easily give enough time to properly review the experience on a longer trans continental flight.

When boarding was announced, I was among the very first on board. I entered into the Air Canada Airbus 220-300 series Business Class cabin.

The Air Canada Business Class cabin on the Airbus 220-3 features a 2 – 2 configuration. This is an upgrade from their Air Canada Canada Regional Jet Business Class cabin that features a 2 – 1 configuration. Air Canada offers three rows of Business Class on the Airbus 220-300, situated across rows 1, 2 and 3.

The Air Canada A220 Business Class seats are the slim line seats that are also found on the current generation Air Canada Boeing 737 – Max aircraft. The Airbus 220 version offers larger than expected cabin windows that offer travellers a great look outside, along with allowing a lot of bright light into the cabin.

I had selected seat 2F, which was a window seat on the “shady” side of the aircraft for our western flight. The in flight display offered welcoming images of the destination. It was a great way of getting travellers into the mood to fly, in anticipation of arriving to the arrival city ahead.

The Air Canada Airbus 220-3 seats are upright recliner styled First Class seats. While they don’t recline into a full flat seat, they do offer a small foot rest that was retractable from the seat ahead. Given my longer frame as a 6ft 2 inch (185 cm) tall person, I didn’t find the rest all that comfortable.

The seat recline was accessed through pressing a button in the centre console. The second button also extended a foot rest recliner for longer rest periods. For this day time flight, I didn’t end up using either.

The seat offered a small amount of storage in the centre console. Empower seat power plug ins were also located in the centre console. The Air Canada Boeing 737 Max version of this seat offers sufficient space to store a laptop. Unfortunately, the Airbus 220 version only allows enough room for a Lonely Planet Guidebook Alaska for a trip that I was in the middle of planning. For those that were looking for a convenient work charging space for a longer trip may be a little disappointed.

The cabin on the Air Canada Airbus 220-3 series offers individual lights and individual air nozzles. I always find that having personal air nozzles always makes a flight more comfortable and was comforted to see them on this particular flight.

The space was “as expected” for a domestic first- or business-class seat in terms of comfort. There was adequate shoulder room in the seat. The version of the seat was a little more compact than the Air Canada Boeing 737 Max version of the same seat; mostly notably in the storage space for laptop computers. However, if you’re just planning on relaxing, you won’t notice much of a notable difference.

Pre Departure Services:

Air Canada served a simple pre-departure beverage, which consisted of a tiny bottle of Naya Water that was waiting on the centre console. Additionally, a free set of headphones for the in-flight entertainment system were provided free of charge.

A printed breakfast menu was distributed by the flight attendants as boarding completed. The printed menu that Air Canada continues to offer is a great extra that makes the experience feel just that much more special.

Despite this, the usual Air Canada breakfast omelette made it’s appearance. This item hasn’t really changed substantially in the last twenty years that I’ve been flying Air Canada. Given that it’s typically pretty plain, it’s gained a bit of notoriety its presentation.

A drink list was also provided. Given that it was breakfast hour, I wasn’t paying much attention to anything on the menu other than a decent cup of hot Lavazza Coffee.

The lunch / early dinner menu featured a choice of two hot entrees, along with an appetizer consisting of a heritage mixed salad, along with a blueberry cheese cake for dessert. The food offering was reasonable for a trans continental flight, with a little bit extra available for those that were really hungry.

Departing Montreal International Airport:

We departed on time. Our push back included a pilot announcement that we would be headed over to the de-icing bay for a quick de-ice of the wings.

After we de-iced next to a Sunwing B737, we headed off towards the runway. We had no wait for take off, and haad views of snowy Montreal as we ascended towards cruise altitude.

The Meal: Breakfast

The flight time today was scheduled at four hours and fifty minutes gate to gate. The meal service started at about forty five minutes after take off from Montreal. As an early morning flight, and having left the hotel at 5:30 AM, I appreciated the opportunity to get down to breakfast as soon as possible.

The in flight service started off with a warm towel service. This has become a regular feature on Air Canada domestic flights. Although it isn’t usually expected, it remains a nice touch.

Having enjoyed dozens of Air Canada Omelettes, including one on my flight out on Air Canada Business Class Vancouver – Winnipeg, I decided that I just couldn’t do another one. Instead, I opted for the Traditional French Toast with a fruit compote with a vanilla creme anglais.

The traditional french toast had a colourful appearance to it, although the fruit compote had a canned taste to it. The creme anglais was tucked underneath the french toast itself, making for a little work to incorporate it into each bite.

I pretty much devoured the meal. While fruit, yoghurt and a bread basket was also offered along side the main course, I still found the serving side to be a little less than what I might have liked. If I had about twenty percent more food, I would have been completely full.

In Fight Entertainment:

I fiddled with the outdated in-flight entertainment system during the flight. The Air Canada Airbus 220-3 series in-flight entertainment system has an updated version that contains the most modern type of Air Canada’s in flight entertainment system.

The in flight entertainment system offered a number of movies split somewhat annoyingly by category; new releases, action, drama, international. By splitting up the movies in this manner, it requires many key strokes to review any movie selection. While the selection was much more than the comparable narrow body Airbus 320 aircraft under Air Canada’s older XM product, it still offered a lessor amount than you might find on a larger wide body aircraft.

The entertainment system also offered a 3d flight map that was almost too complicated for it’s own food. I was able to periodically follow along with the flight map as we crossed Canada towards Edmonton.

This particular flight was outfitted with the Air Canada wifi system. The system was able to be activated through turning on wifi, then opening your web browser.

Air Canada allows for in flight wifi to be purchased within the following increments:

• 30 minutes = 600 Aeroplan Points or $6.50 CAD
• Flight Pass = 1,200 Aeroplan Points or $11.75 CAD
• North American Plan = $65.95 CAD

It’s great that Air Canada allows for the redemption of points for in flight wifi. It’s actually priced at a really reasonable redemption value at about a penny a point; an excellent deal.

As a reminder, Air Canada offers free texting for Aeroplan members. This is accessed through entering your seat and flight number. Since this met my needs, I didn’t access the access the wifi.

The Second Service:

Within the last hour of the flight, Air Canada offered a beverage and a series of warmed nuts. These were served on a dish, along with your favorite beverage.

The nut service was followed up with a snack basket consisting of Miss Vickies Original Recipe potato chips, along with a Lindt Chocolate bar. Given that I was still pretty hungry, I had one of each.

While I can appreciate that many American Airlines go straight for the snack basket as a primary food offering, I found it alright that Air Canada offered a snack basket as. a secondary food offering on this brief five hour flight. It seemed to strike the right balance between two meal services, versus a single meal service and a snack.

Landing at Edmonton International Airport:

We didn’t have any air traffic delays landing in Edmonton. Being in the start of winter, I had more snowy views out of the oversized A220 windows as we descended into Edmonton International Airport

It has been a while since I’ve flown a trans continental flight that had snow on the ground at both ends. After a successful landing, we deplaned into Edmonton International Airport. Parts of the airport were deserted and serene, despite being near lunchtime.

I found my way to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Edmonton, prior to connecting to my Air Canada Business Class Edmonton – Vancouver flight home.

The Bottom Line: Air Canada Business Class A220-3

Air Canada has done a pretty respectable job with it’s business class offering on the Airbus 220-300 series aircraft.

While the seat itself is almost identical to the Air Canada Business Class Boeing 737 Max product, only the most hard core business travellers will pick out the subtle differences in less storage space between the two types of aircraft. The seat comfort was much better than the Air Canada Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ), which is a major improvement.

The in flight service consists of a mostly filling meal, although I would have appreciated a little more variety in the menu offerings. The snack basket was a great addition as a second meal, even if they didn’t have time to serve a full second service.

Overall, the Airbus 220-300 marked a better experience than you’d get on Air Canada’ current 300 series aircraft. I’d happily look forward to flying this aircraft again in the near future.

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If you have flown the Air Canada Airbus 220, did you enjoy the business class experience ?

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