Summary
- Air Canada will resume Toronto to Charleston after more than a fifth of a century.
- It will operate daily using the Embraer E175 and will be one of the carrier’s 47 US destinations from Toronto.
- Air Canada’s total US network for summer 2023 comprises 52 destinations in 32 states – for now.
Air Canada is returning to Charleston. It means the South Carolina airport will gain its only international route after British Airways ceased flying there in October 2019. With Charleston taking off next spring, Air Canada will have non-stop passenger flights to 52 US airports. While more may be coming, it is still down from 55 in summer 2019, the last normal summer before the crisis.
Toronto to Charleston is coming
Leaving Canada on March 28th, 2024, just before airlines in the Northern Hemisphere switch to summer schedules, the 744-mile (1,197 km) route will operate daily. Booking data shows Charleston was Toronto’s 14th largest unserved US mainland market by point-to-point passengers in July 2023.
Using Air Canada Express’ 76-seat, two-class Embraer E175s, it is scheduled as follows, with all times local. Notice the nearly 10 hours on the ground from crew overnighting and only one set of crew. It will also enable connectivity over Toronto across Canada and Europe, a market of ~17,000 passengers in July (~550 daily), although many major European destinations do not have overly quick connection times.
- Toronto to Charleston: AC8629, 18:20-20:38 (2h 18m)
- Charleston to Toronto: AC8628, 10:30-12:41 (2h 21m)
Photo: Sockagphoto/Shutterstock
Analysis of US DOT T-100 data shows that Air Canada last served Charleston between July 2001 and January 2003 – a very fateful and heavily impacted period – when the CRJ100 was used. It carried about 19,000 roundtrip passengers with an average 44% seat load factor, obviously partly because of fallout from the terrorist attacks.
52 US destinations next summer
As of September 29th and subject to change, Cirium shows that Air Canada’s summer 2023 US network comprises 52 destinations in 32 states, including the US territory of Puerto Rico. This includes services operated by Express and Rouge.
There are 112 routes next April-August, as shown on the map below. They include other additions, such as Montreal-Austin, which will start in May 2024. In all, there will be an average of 211 daily departing flights (double for both ways), which takes account of fewer services in spring and more in the peak summer, especially from East Coast hubs.
Image: GCMap
While nearly 97% of transborder flights will go from Air Canada’s major hubs of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, seven Canadian airports will have them, as shown below. Toronto will be linked to 47 of the 52 destinations served in the US. The exceptions are Anchorage, Honolulu, Kona, Kahului, and Orange County.
|
Air Canada’s transborder flights from… |
US destinations* |
Change vs. 2019** |
|---|---|---|
|
Toronto |
47 |
-4 |
|
Montreal |
32 |
+7 |
|
Vancouver |
22 |
+4 |
|
Ottawa |
1 |
-1 |
|
Halifax |
4 |
0 |
|
Calgary |
1 |
-8 |
|
Edmonton |
1 |
-1 |
|
* Anytime from April-August 2024 |
** April-August 2019 |
Eight US airports remain unserved
Comparing Air Canada’s US network in April-August 2024 with 2019 shows that Jacksonville, Memphis, Milwaukee, Omaha, Providence, San Antonio, San Jose, and Savannah no longer see the carrier.
Where else would you like Air Canada to fly in the US? Let us know in the comments.
Sources of information: OAG, Cirium, Air Canada’s website, booking data