Air Canada will begin serving the U.S. from Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto, flying to New York LaGuardia, Boston Logan, Chicago O'Hare and Washington Dulles.
Air Canada's move into Billy Bishop for transborder flights challenges Porter Airlines, which is currently the only airline operating U.S. service from there.
The airport occupies an island in Lake Ontario, just two miles south of downtown Toronto, making it a more convenient jumping-off point than Toronto's primary airport, Pearson, which is approximately 17 miles northwest of downtown.
Air Canada will fly from Billy Bishop to LaGuardia four times daily beginning March 29. O'Hare flights will operate twice daily beginning June 1, and daily Washington Dulles flights will also launch that day. Thrice-daily Boston flights will begin July 1.
All flights will be flown with 78-seat, single-cabin De Havilland Dash 8-400 turboprops, which will get new seats.
Where Porter flies from Billy Bishop
Porter flies from Billy Bishop to Washington Dulles, Boston, Newark and Chicago Midway. The Newark service operates as often as 10 times per day this month, according to Cirium data. It operates Dash 8-400s on all of the routes.
Porter is Canada's third-largest airline and has grown quickly in recent years. It began codesharing with American Airlines in September, attempting to improve its competitive position against the Air Canada-United and WestJet-Delta partnerships.
Porter also began taking on Air Canada on the Toronto Pearson-LaGuardia route in May, marking its entry into that New York airport.
Air Canada's Billy Bishop routes will augment its existing multi-daily service out of Toronto Pearson to LaGuardia, O'Hare, Boston and Dulles.