Beginning May 1, Air Canada will start daily non-stop flights between Toronto and San Antonio International Airport. Currently, Air Canada has non-stop flights in Texas to Dallas, Austin, and Houston.
Lisa Pierce, senior director of USA sales and market development for Air Canada, says the airline believes San Antonio can support the year-round daily service.
“The market size is definitely warranted and it’s a great opportunity to offer a direct service for a market that doesn’t currently have that,” Pierce said.
The airline believes the San Antonio route will attract both business and leisure travelers. “We definitely need the business traffic because it’s something we can rely on year-round. But it’s also a great leisure destination, especially for Americans to travel to Canada because of the exchange rate,” she added. On Wednesday, the exchange rate for a U.S. dollar was $1.32 Canadian.
In a news release, Wayne Peacock, chairman of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation said, “The nonstop flight to Toronto represents economic and business development opportunities, increasing our connectivity with an international market that is experiencing similar growth in the sectors of bioscience and new energy.”
San Antonio City Councilman Joe Krier noted that Canada is one of the state’s largest trading partners.
“It makes it a lot easier for business people to get up there in three hours time and do business and entertain and promote our community in an easy, affordable way than they have not been able to in the past,” Krier said.
Air Canada will fly Embraer 174 planes which can carry 73 passengers. The four-hour flight from Toronto will depart at 1:15 p.m. EST and arrive in San Antonio at 4:04 p.m. CST. The Toronto-bound flight will leave San Antonio at 4:40 p.m.
Toronto was identified by the City of San Antonio as a key destination for air service from San Antonio in the city’s 2016 Strategic Air Service Development Plan.
