Air Canada Vacations has a clear message for the trade: travel advisors are the real "superheroes" of the business.

That is the framing the operator's executive, Gallina, put forward in remarks reported by Open Jaw. The statement positions the agency channel not as a legacy leftover but as the central distribution engine for Air Canada Vacations' packaged product.

The rhetoric matters for sellers of travel. Air Canada Vacations, the packaged-vacation arm of Canada's largest carrier, depends on advisors to move its all-inclusive, cruise and tour inventory. When the operator's leadership publicly frames advisors as indispensable, it signals where the company expects its bookings volume to originate — and where it will keep directing commercial support.

The comments arrive at a moment when operators and online platforms compete directly for the same customers. Direct-booking pushes by suppliers have compressed agency share in some segments, which makes an operator publicly reinforcing the advisor channel a distribution stance worth noting.

For advisors, the message doubles as an argument for their own value proposition: expertise, service and advocacy that online booking tools do not replicate. For Air Canada Vacations, championing that value aligns with a business model that rewards high-touch selling of complex packaged inventory.

What the article does not quantify is the bookings share the advisor channel currently delivers for Air Canada Vacations, nor any commission or incentive changes tied to the remarks. Sellers weighing the operator's commitment will want to watch whether the superhero framing translates into concrete commercial terms.

The operator's leadership, by its own account, sees advisors as heroes of the trade — a stance advisors should expect Air Canada Vacations to keep building its distribution strategy around.