Air Canada Grows in New York: New Flights from Toronto, Montreal
The Canadian flag carrier is trying to gain a foothold in the transborder travel market by announcing next year's routes early, ahead of its U.S. rivals
Brooklyn Bridge, New York / Photo: Colton Duke on Unsplash
Air Canada is adding new routes from Montreal and Toronto to New York – JFK, with flights coming online in the spring of next year. The Canadian flag carrier will begin operating the new routes to the Big Apple on March 26th, 2023.
The new services come just ahead of the summer rush, with the Toronto-New York route conducted twice daily and Montreal-New York one daily.
These new routes will strengthen Air Canada’s position as a leading New York carrier, with the airline now offering flights to all three of the city’s airports: JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia.
The airline offers over 3,500 daily seats to New York across 39 flights and from six Canadian cities: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, and Halifax.
Starting in March, the new Montreal to New York flight is scheduled to depart Montreal (YUL) each day at 6:25 PM, landing at JFK at 8:00 PM. The return leg leaves New York at 12:45 PM, touching down in Montreal at 2:20 PM.
The New York to Toronto rotations are scheduled to depart JFK at 10:00 AM and 1:25 PM each day, arriving at Toronto (YYZ) at 11:45 AM and 3:10 PM, respectively. The return journey will depart Toronto at 11:00 AM and 8:30 PM daily, returning to JFK at 12:36 PM and 10:06 PM, respectively.
Photo: Air Canada, Embraer E175. Courtesy of David Preston / Unsplash
Air Canada will operate the route with an Embraer E175 aircraft—a relatively small jet with a capacity for 76 passengers across two cabins, Business and Economy.
Throughout next year, Air Canada will also renew 13 other transborder travel options. These are:
| When | How often | Route |
| May 2023 | Twice daily | Toronto – Milwaukee |
| May 2023 | Three times weekly | Montreal – Nashville |
| May 2023 | Daily | Calgary – Los Angeles |
| May 2023 | Daily | Montreal – Pittsburgh |
| May 2023 | Daily | Montreal – Seattle |
| May 2023 | Twice daily | Montreal – Philadelphia |
| May 2023 | Daily | Vancouver – Anchorage |
| June 2023 | Twice daily | Toronto – Hartford |
| June 2023 | Daily | Vancouver – Boston |
| June 2023 | Daily | Toronto – Kansas City |
| June 2023 | Three times weekly | Toronto – Salt Lake City |
| June 2023 | Daily | Toronto – Portland |
Mark Galardo, Air Canada’s VP-Network Planning, had previously spoken about his confidence in renewed interest in domestic tourism earlier this week. These new services illustrate further hopes that transborder travel will see a similar boost.
“Air Canada is very pleased to offer customers the most choice of any carrier flying to the U.S. for Summer 2023, where we will operate more than 400 daily flights on 95 routes to 47 destinations,” said Galardo.
“We are getting an early start with new routes to JFK from both Toronto and Montreal beginning March 26 and Toronto-Sacramento in June. As well, we will restore previously suspended routes and increase frequencies on existing routes as we rebuild our transborder schedule.”
Air Canada is also increasing the frequency of some of its existing routes during 2023, including upping its Vancouver-San Francisco flights from three to five per day and offering two daily services from Toronto to Seattle instead of one.
As well as its robust North American presence, the Canadian Airline has bolstered its international presence with a revamped summer schedule, which sees numerous new European services added, improving its already impressive destination list.
