Jazz Aviation: The Regional Engine Behind the Air Canada Express Brand

History and positioning

Jazz Aviation was created in 2001 from the merger of four Canadian regional carriers and is controlled by the holding company Chorus Aviation. Most of its flights are marketed under the Air Canada Express brand under a capacity agreement with the national carrier: anyone who books an Air Canada Express flight almost always flies with Jazz, but the ticket, the loyalty program and customer service remain managed by Air Canada.

The fleet

The fleet includes Dash 8-400s, CRJ200s and CRJ900s, and Embraer E175s, and is relatively modern thanks to a recent upgrade program covering both the Dash 8s and the CRJ900s, which are configured with three classes to mirror Air Canada's standards.

Routes and network

The network is extensive and regional, designed to link small and medium-sized airports to Air Canada's main hubs: a role that a larger mainline carrier could hardly sustain as economically.

What passengers say

Reviews specific to Jazz are rarer than for a carrier with its own brand, because the public tends to attribute the experience to Air Canada Express as a whole.

• Extensive regional connections that would otherwise be hard to sustain for a larger mainline carrier.
• A relatively modern fleet, with recently refurbished Embraer E175s and Dash 8-400s.

• A shortage of regional pilots in recent years, affecting the capacity available on some routes.
• Smaller cabins with less room for carry-on baggage than on mainline flights.

Jazz is not an airline you choose consciously: it is the regional arm that operates many of the short flights sold under the Air Canada Express brand, with service standards aligned with those of the national carrier but on smaller aircraft. Anyone flying these legs should expect less room for carry-on baggage and consider checking it in, given the limited capacity of the overhead bins on Dash 8s and CRJs.