Even though President Donald Trump has begun his presidency with threats of a trade war and ongoing prods and insults toward the United States' northern neighbor, travel between the U.S. and Canada continues to rise.
By summer 2025, Air Canada (ACDVF) will launch new flights between Vancouver and Nashville and between Toronto and Jacksonville, increasing the airline's service between the two countries by 160,000 seats.
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Increased options for the corridor connecting Canada and the U.S.
The latest airline to announce a new flight from Canada to the U.S. is the low-cost carrier Porter Airlines (ULNV) . The budget carrier launched in 2006 to serve the Canadian market and is headquartered at the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ). This smaller airport is significantly closer to downtown Toronto than the larger Pearson Airport (YYZ).
But to reach larger passenger numbers, the newly announced flight will run from YYZ to New York's LaGuardia (LGA) at a peak frequency of three times per day starting on May 1, 2025 — the entire flight takes an hour and 40 minutes and leaves at 7:55 a.m., 2:50 p.m. and 7:25 p.m. The return flight to Toronto will depart at 6:15 a.m., 9:55 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
Related: A growing airline just added seven new flights to Florida
While the route runs daily, the 7:25 p.m. flight to New York and 6:15 a.m. return flight to Toronto will not run on Sundays. The others are slated to run every day three times a week.
"We have built a strong passenger base over more than 15 years for those traveling between Canada and the New York metropolitan area," Porter Airlines Vice President of Network Planning Andrew Pierce said in a statement. "The addition of LaGuardia introduces a new dimension to our network, opening more options for existing customers and the ability to attract new ones within the busiest air service corridor connecting Canada and the U.S."
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Porter has already been flying into the New York area with a Billy Bishop-Newark Liberty (EWR) route running since 2008. In 2023, the airline has also made a major push to expand its Florida service with a spate of new routes to Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando and Tampa from Toronto and Ottawa.
New flight will connect New York travelers to other Canadian, U.S. cities
Demand from sun-seeking Canadians met Porter's expectations, and these routes are still running two years later. Also in 2023, Porter also added a new route between Ottawa and Newark; between the existing flights and the new flight to LaGuardia; the airline will run 15 daily flights to the New York area on peak days.
The LaGuardia flight will run on a 132-seat Embraer E195-E2 (ERJ) plane with two-seat sections on each side of the aisle. The flight is also a strategic move meant to help make Porter an airline that passengers will choose when traveling from New York to other Canadian cities such as Montreal, Calgary, Halifax, Edmonton and Vancouver, among others.
"Additionally, Porter’s interline partnership with JetBlue will offer passengers numerous onward connections at LGA across the southern U.S.," the airline wrote in the release announcing the new route.
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