The Chicago Department of Aviation and Air Canada celebrated the launch of the carrier’s first-ever route from O’Hare International Airport to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport yesterday.
CDA Commissioner Michael J. McMurray said: “On behalf of Mayor Brandon Johnson and the entire City of Chicago, I’m honoured to welcome the historic launch of O’Hare’s first-ever service to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. This new service underscores O’Hare’s world-class connectivity and provides a convenient, nonstop link for Chicagoans to access the heart of Canada’s most populous city.”
Alexandre Lefevre, Vice President, Network Planning & Global Sales at Air Canada, said that: “Chicago and Toronto are sought-after destinations for business and leisure travel, and we are excited to link Chicago directly to Canada’s financial capital in downtown Toronto.”
And Lefevre continued: “Our newest route to O’Hare complements our flights from our primary global hub at Toronto Pearson. With border preclearance facilities at Billy Bishop Airport, travel to Chicago is convenient for both business travellers and for people living in the downtown Toronto area. We look forward to welcoming customers on board.”
Air Canada’s twice-daily route operates on a 78-seat, all-economy, Dash 8 turboprop aircraft, as Billy Bishop does not allow commercial jet service. Flights depart O’Hare at 7:25 a.m. and 2 p.m., while arriving flights land at O’Hare at 1:10 p.m. and 8:16 p.m.
The route complements Air Canada’s service to Pearson, which operates five times per day.
Scheduled departing seats from Chicago to Canada across both O’Hare and Midway International Airports are up 13% this year from pre-pandemic 2019 levels and up 12% from July 2025.
This increase is attributable to this new Air Canada service, as well as the expansion of Billy Bishop service by Porter Airlines and Halifax and Edmonton service by United Airlines over the past year.
Tags: Air Canada, Billy Bishop, Chicago O’Hare
