You are currently viewing Aeroplan airline options: list and map (Air Canada AND 48 airline partners)

There are so many airline options to use your Aeroplan points all over the world. Aeroplan actually has more airline partners than any other airline rewards program in the world. Given how these programs work, Aeroplan’s list of 48 partners is extremely valuable and is one of the reasons why it is our favorite airline rewards program for Canadian travelers.

We’ll be sharing a lot of Aeroplan content in the next few weeks since Flytrippers is currently running our biggest giveaway ever. Enter today and you can win 210,000 Aeroplan points (value: ≈ $3150 to UNLIMITED)!

Because the Aeroplan program belongs to Air Canada, many travelers believe Air Canada is the only airline option. It would be very logical to believe this, but the world of travel rewards is frequently counterintuitive like that.

The reality is the appeal of airline rewards program is often actually their network of partner airlines that gives you so many options to use your points for reward flights.

Here are the Aeroplan airline options (in the form of infographics, a map, and lists).

 

Aeroplan airline options — Basics

Here are the basics you first need to know about Aeroplan airline options to put together your desired reward flights itinerary:

  • There are 2 distinct pricing mechanisms for reward flights
    • Flights on partner airlines (prices are limited, seats are limited)
    • Flights on Air Canada (prices not limited, seats not limited)
  • There are 48 partner airlines
    • In addition to Air Canada, of course
    • No airline program in the world has more airline partners
    • That gives access to 1300+ destinations around the world
    • They are almost all bookable on the Air Canada website
  • There are 3 types of partners
    • The difference between the first 2 doesn’t change anything in practice
    • The last is made up of the few exceptions that exist
  • There are no restrictions on combining different airlines
    • All these options can be combined on the same ticket
    • Seats available on different partners can be combined together
    • Seats available on partners can be combined with any seat on Air Canada
  • These airlines all allow you to also earn Aeroplan points
    • In addition to being able to use points on the airlines
    • There are a few additional partners for earning only
      • These are listed at the end of this post

 

Aeroplan airline options — Overview

Here’s an infographic that lists all the Aeroplan airline options, sorted by the type of option (which I explain the basics of briefly right below). 

See full-size infographic or share on Facebook

 

Air Canada

Air Canada-owned Aeroplan airline options (image credit: Flytrippers)

 

Air Canada is pretty straightforward. This isn’t a partner, it’s the airline who the Aeroplan rewards program belongs to, so you probably already know you can use your Aeroplan points on this airline.

I’ve included Air Canada Express and Air Canada Rouge explicitly just for clarity in this section only, but know that direct subsidiaries of all partner airlines are also partners automatically (for example, United Express is the same as United).

Again, the most basic thing to understand about Aeroplan is that the pricing system for reward flights on Air Canada is completely different than for partner airlines.

In short, there is no guaranteed fixed price for Air Canada flights so there’s no potential for unlimited value (the amount of points required will often be somewhat related to the cash price). However, the available seats are not limited, meaning you can use your points very simply for any seat on any Air Canada flight.

 

Star Alliance partners

Star Alliance Aeroplan airline options (image credit: Flytrippers)

 

Star Alliance is the largest and most prestigious of the 3 global airline alliances and since Air Canada is a member, that gives you access to reward flights on 25 partner airlines in literally every region of the world.

These are some of the largest airlines in the world too, with the biggest destination networks and fleets.

For Aeroplan reward flights on partner airlines, there is a guaranteed fixed price set by the Aeroplan award charts (price tables), giving you the potential for unlimited value (the amount of points required is fixed, no matter the cash price). However, the available seats are limited, meaning you need to be more flexible on routings/dates/etc. and/or book further ahead to use your points.

This is why having so many partners makes Aeroplan great: more partners means more available seats.

 

Non-alliance partners (standard)

Non-alliance Aeroplan airline options (image credit: Flytrippers)

 

Non-alliance partners are airlines that aren’t part of the airline’s own alliance. The pricing system for these non-alliance partners is exactly the same as for Star Alliance partners, with a guaranteed fixed price set by the Aeroplan award charts. So in practice, there is absolutely no difference between non-alliance partners and Star Alliance partners.

But non-alliance partners are one way Aeroplan really stands out. These 16 non-alliance partners are all airlines that aren’t part of any alliance. They are otherwise hard to book with travel rewards and therefore often offer good additional availability.

Having these airlines as options therefore adds valuable available seats in more regions and to more destinations. Many airline rewards programs have non-alliance partners like this, but none have as many as Aeroplan.

I’ve spoken with Aeroplan VPs at the top of their leadership team many times and they are travelers who are rewards enthusiasts and aviation geeks like the most passionate of us travel rewards fans. So they deliberately set out to add unique partners that give us even more options to use points.

 

Non-alliance partners (special)

Special non-alliance Aeroplan airline options (image credit: Flytrippers)

 

These 7 partners are the exceptions to the rules.

Firstly, Cathay Pacific is a member of the oneworld alliance but they do have a unique partnership with Aeroplan. It is special because you can book Aeroplan reward flights only on certain Cathay Pacific routes (where as with all other partners, you can book every route they operate).

The 8 eligible routes are from Hong Kong (HKG) to Southeast Asian cities: Manila, Cebu, Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Kuala Lumpur. It’s better than not being able to use your points for Cathay at all.

Secondly, Emirates is one of the most luxurious and prestigious airlines in the world and is not part of any airline alliance. It is special because it is not bound by the same Aeroplan award charts as all the other partners.

To be able to add this popular airline as a partner, there had to be a compromise: Aeroplan reward flights on Emirates are governed by a separate price table (award chart). Still, that’s better than simply not having the option to use your Aeroplan points on Emirates at all.

Thirdly, Flydubai was just added as the newest partner. They share the same owner and same home country as Emirates, so they are bound by the same special separate price table (award chart) as Emirates.

Finally, the 4 Aeroplan Canadian domestic partners (Air Creebec, Calm Air, Canadian North, PAL Airlines) are not an exception yet, but it’s coming soon.

These partners actually provide the highest value you can get in all of the world of airline rewards (in economy, so excluding the uses for premium cabins that are so incredibly valuable). Flytrippers has been telling you for years how great of a value this is… and it’s such a huge value that this sweet spot will soon be eliminated as it’s just too lucrative (for us travelers) to be sustainable (for Aeroplan).

In short, these partners will also have their own separate price table (award chart), as Emirates does. It is supposed to happen in 2023 so it could be imminent. Stay tuned for a post very soon about how to take advantage of this great value before it’s gone.

Another way these are special is that 2 of these 4 Canadian domestic partners (Air Creebec and Calm Air) are the only 2 partners that are only bookable by phone and not online.

 

Aeroplan airline options — Map & routes

Here’s the map to show you each Aeroplan airline option’s home region, as knowing this is very useful in planning your use of Aeroplan points as a true passionate traveler.

See full-size infographic

 

Airline home countries and hubs

As you surely figured out, the lines and dots on the map mark the airline’s home country. As much as possible (barring layout constraints), we tried to place the dot close to the airline’s actual hub too.

A hub is an airport where an airline operates a large amount of flights. For example, just because Lufthansa is a German airline, that doesn’t mean they operate many flights out of the German capital, Berlin (they really don’t).

Also, note that some airlines have multiple hubs in their home country. For example, United has major hubs in Chicago, Newark, Houston, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Denver. Lufthansa has hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. Air India has hubs in Delhi and Mumbai. Etc.

Finally, there are also 3 main outlier airlines that operate hubs in multiple countries:

  • Avianca: Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala
  • SAS (Scandinavian Airlines): Sweden, Norway, Denmark
  • Eurowings: Germany, Austria, Czechia, Kosovo, Spain, Sweden

 

Airline networks

All of these Aeroplan airline options offer plenty of routes from their home countries.

These airlines obviously all operate many short-distance flights (domestically or to neighboring countries). Most have long-distance flights between their home countries and various parts of the world (especially Star Alliance partners, as they are generally the biggest and most international airlines).

It’s therefore obviously very useful to know what are the home countries and hubs for these Aeroplan airline options to have an idea of the available destination network.

 

Airline routes research

If you want to see any airline’s route network, there are 2 main tools Flytrippers recommends.

Firstly, the airline’s Wikipedia page. It lists the main hubs in the right side summary table. You can either look at the airline’s destinations listed on that same airline page, or go to their hub airports’ pages to see the list of destinations.

Secondly, the Flight Connections tool. This website works great to visually see the routes from a specific airport or even a specific airline.

Airline routes map (image credit: FlightConnections)

 

Aeroplan airline options — Additions

Aeroplan has consistently added new non-alliance airline partners since the program was revamped in 2020, so it’s not impossible that more new partners could join in the future.

Also, while it’s not something that has happened often in recent years, Star Alliance could potentially grow. For example, Lufthansa has acquired a major stake in Italian airline ITA Airways. Maybe that airline could eventually join Star Alliance someday.

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Aeroplan airline options — Removals

While it’s not important right now, in the longer-term it’s worth knowing that 3 airlines could potentially no longer be Aeroplan partners:

  • SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) will leave Star Alliance for SkyTeam in the future
  • Asiana Airlines could disappear due to being acquired by Korean Air (part of SkyTeam)
  • Oman Air will join Oneworld (which probably means it would no longer be an Aeroplan non-alliance partner)

So if you want to fly those 3 specific airlines, it’s best to do it sooner rather than later. Once you have a confirmed booking with them, the fact they stop being partners is irrelevant and shouldn’t affect you.

Also, the 2 Indian partners (Air India and Vistara) are in the process of merging, so that will technically eliminate a partner but this won’t actually change the amount of available destinations, planes, and seats.

Finally, Bamboo Airways is the youngest airline among the Aeroplan airline options and is going through financial difficulties as a new startup. Aeroplan would possibly find an alternative if you have a confirmed booking and Bamboo ceases operations, but I want you to have all the information!

 

Aeroplan airline options — Partners for earning only

All the 48 Aeroplan airline partners above allow you to earn and use Aeroplan points.

But a few additional airline partners only allow you to earn points (but not to use them), so it is certainly less interesting for the vast majority of travelers.

Note that on these specific additional partners for earning only, the ability to earn Aeroplan points often applies only to specific flights (codeshare flights, for example) and/or only to specific fare classes.

Here are the 4 additional Aeroplan airline options for earning only:

  • Aer Lingus
  • Central Mountain Air
  • MEA (Middle East Airlines)
  • SriLankan Airlines

 

Aeroplan airline options — Lists (regions, types, size, A to Z)

Here are the lists if you prefer the bullet points format instead of the infographics above.

 

List by region (and home country)

Here’s the list of Aeroplan airline options by region (and in each region, they’re sorted by approximately and subjectively how useful they should be for travelers in general).

 

Canada

  • Air Canada
  • Canadian North
  • Calm Air
  • PAL Airlines
  • Air Creebec

 

Americas

  • United (U.S.)
  • Avianca (Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala)
  • Copa Airlines (Panama)
  • GOL (Brazil)
  • Azul (Brazil)

 

Europe

  • TAP Air Portugal (Portugal)
  • Lufthansa (Germany)
  • SWISS (Switzerland)
  • Austrian (Austria)
  • LOT Polish Airlines (Poland)
  • SAS/Scandinavian Airlines (Sweden, Norway, Denmark)
  • Brussels Airlines (Belgium)
  • Eurowings (Germany, Austria, Czechia, Kosovo, Spain, Sweden)
  • Discover Airlines (Germany)
  • Air Serbia (Serbia)
  • Air Dolomiti (Italy)
  • Aegean (Greece)
  • Olympic Air (Greece)
  • Croatia Airlines (Croatia)
  • Deutsche Bahn (railway partner coming soon)

 

Middle East and Africa

  • Turkish Airlines (Türkiye)
  • Etihad (UAE)
  • Emirates (UAE)
  • Flydubai (UAE)
  • SunExpress (Türkiye)
  • EGYPTAIR (Egypt)
  • Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopia)
  • Gulf Air (Bahrain)
  • Oman Air (Oman)
  • South African Airways (South Africa)
  • Air Mauritius (Mauritius)

 

Asia

  • ANA/All Nippon Airways (Japan)
  • Singapore Airlines (Singapore)
  • THAI (Thailand)
  • EVA Air (Taiwan)
  • Asiana Airlines (South Korea)
  • Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong)
  • Air China (China)
  • Bamboo Airways (Vietnam)
  • Air India (India)
  • Vistara (India)
  • Shenzhen Airlines (China)
  • Juneyao Air (China)

 

Australia/Pacific

  • Air New Zealand (New Zealand)
  • Virgin Australia (Australia)

 

List by type

Here’s the list of Aeroplan airline options by type of option it is.

 

Air Canada

  • Air Canada
  • Air Canada Express
  • Air Canada Rouge

 

Star Alliance partners

  • Aegean
  • Air China
  • Air India
  • Air New Zealand
  • ANA (All Nippon Airways)
  • Asiana Airlines
  • Austrian
  • Avianca
  • Brussels Airlines
  • Copa Airlines
  • Croatia Airlines
  • Deutsche Bahn (railway partner coming soon)
  • EGYPTAIR
  • Ethiopian Airlines
  • EVA Air
  • LOT Polish Airlines
  • Lufthansa
  • SAS (Scandinavian Airlines)
  • Shenzhen Airlines
  • Singapore Airlines
  • South African Airways
  • SWISS
  • TAP Air Portugal
  • THAI
  • Turkish Airlines
  • United

 

Non-alliance partners (regular)

  • Air Dolomiti
  • Air Mauritius
  • Air Serbia
  • Azul
  • Bamboo Airways
  • Discover Airlines
  • Etihad
  • Eurowings
  • GOL
  • Gulf Air
  • Juneyao Air
  • Olympic Air
  • Oman Air
  • SunExpress
  • Virgin Australia
  • Vistara

 

Non-alliance partners (special)

  • Cathay Pacific
  • Emirates
  • Flydubai
  • Air Creebec
  • Calm Air
  • Canadian North
  • PAL Airlines

 

List by size

Here’s the list of Aeroplan airline options, from largest to smallest (based on the imperfect metric that is the number of aircraft in the fleet):

  • United (922 planes, 365 destinations)
  • Air China (492 planes, 195 destinations)
  • Turkish Airlines  (400 planes, 340 destinations)
  • Air Canada (353 planes, 195 destinations)
  • Lufthansa (274 planes, 229 destinations)
  • Emirates (260 planes, 144 destinations)
  • ANA/All Nippon Airways (212 planes, 92 destinations)
  • Shenzhen Airlines (200 planes, 79 destinations)
  • Cathay Pacific (177 planes, 81 destinations*)
  • Azul (167 planes, 161 destinations)
  • Singapore Airlines (152 planes, 81 destinations)
  • GOL (146 planes, 76 destinations)
  • Ethiopian Airlines (145 planes, 213 destinations)
  • Avianca (139 planes, 78 destinations)
  • SAS/Scandinavian Airlines (124 planes, 168 destinations)
  • Air India (123 planes, 103 destinations)
  • Eurowings (119 planes, 152 destinations)
  • Air New Zealand (108 planes, 50 destinations)
  • Virgin Australia (106 planes, 37 destinations)
  • Copa Airlines (92 planes, 82 destinations)
  • SWISS (88 planes, 120 destinations)
  • Juneyao Air (88 planes, 86 destinations)
  • EVA Air (86 planes, 62 destinations)
  • Flydubai (80 planes, 124 destinations)
  • Asiana (78 planes, 90 destinations)
  • EGYPTAIR (77 planes, 102 destinations)
  • TAP Air Portugal (75 planes, 87 destinations)
  • LOT Polish Airlines (75 planes, 120 destinations)
  • THAI (71 planes, 60 destinations)
  • Austrian (65 planes, 121 destinations)
  • Vistara (63 planes, 49 destinations)
  • Etihad (60 planes, 77 destinations)
  • Aegean (60 planes, 161 destinations)
  • Sun Express (53 planes, 66 destinations)
  • PAL Airlines (45 planes, 29 destinations)
  • Oman Air (45 planes, 46 destinations)
  • Brussels Airlines (43 planes, 92 destinations)
  • Gulf Air (35 planes, 59 destinations)
  • Canadian North (33 planes, 27 destinations)
  • Bamboo Airways (29 planes, 27 destinations)
  • Air Serbia (26 planes, 81 destinations)
  • Discover Airlines (22 planes, 62 destinations)
  • Air Creebec (19 planes, 16 destinations)
  • Air Dolomiti (19 planes, 26 destinations)
  • Calm Air (15 planes, 14 destinations)
  • Olympic Air (15 planes, 28 destinations)
  • Croatia Airlines (13 planes, 31 destinations)
  • South African Airways (12 planes, 16 destinations)
  • Air Mauritius (10 planes, 12 destinations)
  • Deutsche Bahn (railway partner coming soon)

*Only 8 of Cathay Pacific’s destinations are eligible

 

List by alphabetical order

Here’s the list of Aeroplan airline options, from A to Z:

  • Aegean
  • Air Canada
  • Air China
  • Air Creebec
  • Air Dolomiti
  • Air India
  • Air Mauritius
  • Air New Zealand
  • Air Serbia
  • ANA (All Nippon Airways)
  • Asiana Airlines
  • Austrian
  • Avianca
  • Azul
  • Bamboo Airways
  • Brussels Airlines
  • Calm Air
  • Canadian North
  • Cathay Pacific
  • Copa Airlines
  • Croatia Airlines
  • Deutsche Bahn (railway partner coming soon)
  • Discover Airlines
  • EGYPTAIR
  • Emirates
  • Ethiopian Airlines
  • Etihad
  • Eurowings
  • EVA Air
  • Flydubai
  • GOL
  • Gulf Air
  • Juneyao Air
  • LOT Polish Airlines
  • Lufthansa
  • Olympic Air
  • Oman Air
  • PAL Airlines
  • SAS (Scandinavian Airlines)
  • Shenzhen Airlines
  • Singapore Airlines
  • South African Airways
  • SunExpress
  • SWISS
  • TAP Air Portugal
  • THAI
  • Turkish Airlines
  • United
  • Virgin Australia
  • Vistara

 

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Summary

Aeroplan is the most important airline rewards program for Canadian travelers, and one of the major benefits is that it gives you access to the most partner airlines in the world! The list of Aeroplan airline partners is indeed very long, giving you plenty of options for your next reward flight, almost anywhere in the world.

Have any questions about Aeroplan airline options? Ask me in the comments below.

 

See the deals we spot: Cheap flights

Explore awesome destinations: Travel inspiration

Learn pro tricks: Travel tips

Discover free travel: Travel rewards

 

Featured image: Map of Aeroplan airline options (photo credit: Flytrippers)

 

 

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Andrew D'Amours

Andrew is the co-founder of Flytrippers. He is passionate about traveling the world but also, as a former management consultant, about the travel industry itself. He shares his experiences to help you save money on travel. As a very cost-conscious traveler, he loves finding deals and getting free travel thanks to travel rewards points... to help him visit every country in the world (current count: 71/193 Countries, 47/50 US States & 9/10 Canadian Provinces).

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