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A person walks by Air Canada planes at Toronto Pearson Airport.Michelle Siu/The Canadian Press

Air Canada expects to unveil its new low-cost airline catering to the Caribbean and other holiday destinations in a couple weeks.

Speaking at conference for the investment community Wednesday, Michael Rousseau, Air Canada's executive vice-president and chief financial officer, said that an announcement of the carrier and its branding should come soon.

The discount carrier will not only fly to leisure vacation spots and trans-Atlantic cities, but will also take some routes from its Air Canada parent company. Although the new low-cost carrier will be wholly owned by Air Canada, Mr. Rousseau said, it will have a separate management team to foster more of a low-cost-carrier culture, a model continuing to see rapid growth among new carriers in Asia, for instance.

Expected to launch in 2013, the unveiling of the new carrier will focus on how it will differentiate itself from Air Canada, even though it will have close ties to its parent, including a number of planes being reallocated from Air Canada to the new carrier.

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