Air Canada thanks partners at holiday open house

The holidays are a time to bring people together, and that’s just what Air Canada did by hosting an open house reception last night.

"We really had a phenomenal year. This [night] was to thank our partners,” Duncan Bureau, vice-president of global sales, said of the gathering, which included representatives from all walks of the travel industry.

“I thought it was important that we have as many of our partners here as possible. We’ve got travel trade here, we’ve got corporate customers here, we’ve got tourism boards here. It’s just great.”

Bureau and the Air Canada team spent much of the night turning about the room, greeting guests that seemed more like old friends. Later in the evening, he addressed the crowd and introduced his colleagues who were also onhand, including Virgilio Russi, senior director of sales for Canada; Robert Trudeau, senior director of corporate and business development sales; and announced the return of Francois Choquette, director of specialty sales, previously VP of Commercial, Europe for Air Transat.

As guests helped themselves to a festive spread of food and drink, talk turned to Air Canada’s recent growth in service, including the addition of new seasonal domestic routes through Air Canada rouge, as well as the much-anticipated non-stop flights between Toronto and Dubai, set to begin in 2015.

Bureau made a point of attributing much of the company’s achievements to those in attendance.

“There’s a tremendous amount of incredible brands in this room, and Air Canada certainly could not be successful without the support that we have from this great partner network and distribution network and, of course, our customers as well.”