April 2, 2003 - Arlington, Virginia - ARC has been advised that Air Canada, AC/014, has filed a voluntary restructuring proceeding under the Canadian Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) - a proceeding similar to Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.  This action was filed on April 1, 2003.  The carrier has also had this proceeding recognized by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court - Southern District of New York (Manhattan) - Case number 13-1394887, Judge Prudence Carter Beatty presiding.

Air Canada has announced that it will continue operating its flights and customer programs without interruption and its ticket refund and exchange policies remain in effect.  Uninterrupted processing of travel agent transactions is critical to this mission.  For this reason, Air Canada has agreed with ARC to continue processing Air Canada validated transactions including sales, refunds, and exchanges without interruption.  Travel agents are asked to continue checking ARC's Web site for future updates.

Travel agents are asked to contact ARC's Customer Service Center at (703) 816-8003 or csc@arccorp.com with any processing-related questions.  ARC will also be posting related updates in the Announcement section of ARC's Web site at www.arccorp.com.  Air Canada will provide consumer and agency updates on its Web sites at www.aircanada.com and www.aircanada.com/agents.