Vancouver’s 9th Air Canada Flight to Asia: AC17 to Manila Takes Off

Air Canada powers up its route network from its Pacific hub in Vancouver, ahead of the 2025 summer season, with a new flight to Asia. One that will cater to both holidaymakers and one of the largest expat communities. Let me take you through the details of Air Canada's new AC17 flight from Vancouver to Manila.

Air Canada's 9th Flight to Asia from Vancouver: Flight AC18 to Manila

While transborder services between Canada and the US are taking a hit due to the rising tensions between the countries' governments, Air Canada is trying to compensate by opening new profitable services. The latest addition to the Canadian carrier's route network is flight AC17 from Vancouver, the airline's Pacific hub, to Manila, in the Philippines.

Air Canada will have a growing presence on the route. Initially, for April 2025, flights will operate 3 times per week, every:

• Monday
• Wednesday
• Friday

Moving on, from May 1st onwards, Vancouver to Manila flight will up its frequency to 4x weekly services, every:

• Tuesday
• Thursday
• Friday
• Sunday

Timings, as in all transpacific flights, are quite peculiar because the return flight lands the same day of departure but earlier than departure time. That sounds a little twisted but it'll be all clear looking at the timings:

• AC17: Departs Vancouver (YVR) at 01:55, arriving next day in Manila (MNL) at 06:20.
• AC18: Departs Manila (MNL) at 09:25, arriving at Vancouver (YVR) at 06:20 the same day.

Manila NAIA has become the 9th airport Air Canada flies to from Vancouver, following:

• Singapore (SIN)
• Bangkok (BKK)
• Shanghai (PVG)
• Beijing Capital (PEK)
• Seoul-Incheon (ICN)
• Hong Kong (HKG)
• Osaka (KIX)
• Tokyo Narita (NRT)

Air Canada will be going head to head with the Philippino flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) which already serves the route daily on its Boeing 777-300ER.

Speaking About Planes: Air Canada's Choice for Vancouver to Manila AC17 Flight

Air Canada will be competing with PAL on the route using a smaller plane. The carrier might want to first test out how the Philippino crowd reacts to its service and product before committing to a larger aircraft. Specifically it utilizes its Boeing 787-9 on its new AC17 flight from Vancouver to Manila.

Those planes feature a three class configuration with the airline's most up to date international cabin layout:

• 30 Business class seats in a standard 1-2-1 layout (AC's Signature class).
• 21 Premium Economy seats in a 2-3-2 layout.
• 247 Economy Class seats in a standard 3-3-3 layout.

Additionally, Signature Class is in a reverse herringbone layout meaning that you don't really have any awkward eye encounters with other passengers, despite the absence of privacy partitions or doors.