Air China, Air Canada sign joint venture agreement

Air China and Air Canada signed a joint venture agreement on Wednesday in Beijing, which will enable the two aviation groups to offer better customer services, including optimizing flight schedules, improving lounge services and promoting joint sales, according to Calin Rovinescu, the president of Air Canada.

He added that the Chinese aviation market is expected to become the world's largest by 2022 and the new joint venture is a "tremendous opportunity" for Air Canada that will further drive its participation in this market.

The agreement was made in time for the 2018 China-Canada Year of Tourism and followed an expansion of code-share services that was announced by the two airlines last month.

Air Canada is the third international airline that Air China has a joint venture with, following that with Lufthansa in 2016 and with Air New Zealand in 2015.

"We're very proud to be the first North American carrier to sign a joint venture with this Chinese carrier, and I know that together we'll accomplish remarkable things for our customers, our countries and our respective airlines," Rovinescu added.

Air China Chairman Cai Jianjiang said Canada is one of the very important aviation markets for China and the number of passengers going to and from the two countries in 2017 increased by 17.8 percent year on year.

The joint venture agreement will help deepen the partnership and offer customers more choices in terms of flight schedules and lounge services.

"I believe this cooperation will put Air China on track to enhance our international standards and our service levels and expand our brand presence globally," Cai added.

Zhang Yangfei contributed to this story.