Air Canada enhances passenger experience with locally inspired Café at Québec City Airport


Air Canada has opened a new Air Canada Café at Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport, combining premium lounge amenities, local culture and distinctive design to elevate the passenger experience.

Summary:

  • Air Canada has opened its newest Air Canada Café at Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport, bringing the airport’s first dedicated premium lounge experience to travellers.
  • The 97-seat facility, operated with Plaza Premium Group, combines locally inspired food, art and design to create a distinctive sense of place and enhance the passenger journey.
  • The new Café forms part of Air Canada’s broader lounge modernisation strategy and its ‘Glowing Hearted’ approach to delivering a premium end-to-end customer experience.

Air Canada has opened its newest Air Canada Café at Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB), introducing the first dedicated premium lounge experience to the airport’s terminal. The new 97-seat Air Canada Café, operated in partnership with Plaza Premium Group, offers eligible customers a modern, locally inspired space to relax, work or recharge before their flight, featuring menus that celebrate Québec City’s heritage, culture, and renowned art de vivre.

The YQB location marks the seventh Air Canada Café, deepening the airline’s investment in the premium customer experience in Québec, and expanding the successful café concept as part of its multi-year global lounge modernisation programme.

“Travellers love Québec City for its food, charm and character,” said Jacqueline Harkness, Managing Director, Product & Services, Air Canada. “With this new Air Canada Café, we’ve created a space that feels like a love letter to the city – warm, calm, and inspired by its rich and unique character. Québec City is one of Canada’s great treasures, and we’re proud to bring a little taste of its magic into the travel experience.”

Reflecting Air Canada’s Glowing Hearted design philosophy, the new Air Canada Café blends inspiration from Québec’s natural landscape and the charm and character of the Québec City region to create an atmosphere of calm and comfort. The space is anchored by two significant works from celebrated Québecois and Canadian artists. These include Flow, a vibrant abstraction in acrylic, oil and ink on canvas by the award-winning abstract artist Antonietta Grassi, and 1982, a colourful, geometric acrylic on linen by visual artist and novelist Douglas Coupland.

“The opening of the brand-new Air Canada Café is fully in line with our commitment to offering an ever more welcoming and distinctive experience to travellers who choose to fly from our airport,” said Stéphane Poirier, President and CEO, Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB). “We are proud to partner with Air Canada and Plaza Premium Group in welcoming this popular and unique lounge concept. We are also pleased to count on these valued partners to help us develop a modern, attractive airport that meets our passengers’ expectations.”

The Air Canada Café’s menu proudly features locally sourced products and items developed with Québec-based and Indigenous partners, celebrating the city and region’s rich character. Designed as a place to relax before a flight, the Air Canada Café features a full self-service station with hot and cold menu items to be enjoyed onsite. The menu also caters to a range of dietary preferences and is supported by comprehensive allergen labelling.

“We are immensely proud to debut this space at YQB – a unique hybrid lounge that brings together a premium common-use experience and world-class service,” said Eric Pateman, Senior Vice President, North America, Plaza Premium Group. “This opening celebrates our continued partnership and a shared vision to innovate, collaborate, and truly make travel better.”

Inspired by the vast range of Canada’s landscapes and regions, this new Café reflects Air Canada’s new design standard for creating warm, distinctly Canadian spaces that authentically reflect the local culture, character and sense of place. This is the latest expression of its ‘Glowing Hearted’ end-to-end customer experience.

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