Air Canada is to increase the frequency of its services between Dublin and Toronto from a seasonal summer schedule to a year round daily one. The route will be served by Air Canada Rouge, a lower cost offshoot of the parent company. The airline is a major sporting sponsor in its domestic market.
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[ismember]Air Canada’s principal sporting engagement is with Ice Hockey. It invests a sum believed to be €6 million each year in the six professional hockey teams that play in Canada.
It is venue sponsor of the Air Canada Centre (pictured) where the Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey, Totonto Raptors Basketball and Toronto Rock Lacrosse teams play, and which also hosts major concerts and entertainment events.
In the summer of 2012 Air Canada extended its sponsorship of the Canadian Olympic teams by a further four years. It carried the national competitors to London last year and will do the same for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in 2014.
In 2011 the airline threatened to withdraw from Ice Hockey over concerns about player violence but it did remain in the sport and also has an involvement with a number of teams in the US. One of the points made at the time of the threat was the value which the airline placed on reputation, as well as on the ability to communicate with business professionals through sports loyalty and corporate hospitality programmes.
The GAA has existing airline relationships with Aer Lingus and Etihad but Rugby and Soccer are relatively clean within this important sector. Emirates is an official partner of the Irish Open Golf.
Air Canada lists ten individual criteria for engaging with a new sponsorship proposal.
High among them is industry exclusivity but they also list the ability to offer hospitality; the right image fit; a significant reach into the business community and a demonstration of where and how it can drive incremental sales.
Space to exhibit, an ability to leverage other involvements and what level of media support as well as cross promotional capacity also feature and the results of any engagement need to be measurable.
Rugby may gain a march on other sports with an international match between Ireland and Canada taking place in Toronto on June 15th. The Canadian team is ranked just above the USA in world rankings and the two sides will compete for a place at the 2015 World Cup in England later in the summer.
Canadian team manager Kieran Crowley may be an All Black by birth but undoubtedly has Irish connections.[/ismember]
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