AC Rouge rings in third birthday

Air Canada Rouge is celebrating its third birthday July 1, having grown since its inaugural flight in 2013.

Since that time, the brand has grown into an international leisure carrier with 1,600 employees, a fleet of 44 aircraft and a network of 100 routes touching five continents.

"After three years of rapid growth, we will mark our third birthday on Canada Day by proudly operating 123 flights carrying more than 23,000 customers. Air Canada Rouge was first introduced as a leisure carrier in 2013 to serve Mexico, the Caribbean and select destinations in Europe. With investments in our fleet, network, and product, as well as our unique approach to on-board service, Air Canada Rouge has grown to play a key role within Air Canada," Benjamin Smith, president, passenger airlines at Air Canada, stated in a release.

In the past two months alone, Air Canada Rouge has begun offering service on seven new international routes including service from Toronto to Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, London-Gatwick, and Glasgow; Vancouver to Dublin; and Montreal to Casablanca.

The service to the Moroccan capital is Air Canada's first regularly scheduled flight to Africa and extends Air Canada's global network to six continents.

Other fun facts about Air Canada Rouge at three years :

• 11 million customers served - and counting
• 1,120 Rouge Crew (the brand’s name for flight attendants), with 330 hired since Jan. 2016
• 480 pilots, growing to 500 by end of summer
• More than 6,600 children's faces painted with onboard face painting kits
• About 8,800 puppets created from air sickness bags
• More than 143,000 signature buttons such as "Happy Birthday!" and "First Flight!" distributed to customers celebrating special occasions onboard

(Source: Air Canada Rouge)