Transborder Travels: The Busiest US-Canada Routes This Month

It stands to reason that Canada and the United States are well-connected by air (as well as a well-developed road network – even Amtrak goes to three Canadian provinces). While flights between Canada and China have cratered by around 91% in recent years, the remain strong between the US and Canada. According to information gathered by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, these are the flight connections from the United States to Canada scheduled for the month of October.

NYC & Toronto dominate the busiest routes

Most of the major US-based airlines fly to Canada (with the very notable exception of Southwest Airlines, as its systems are not set up to receive Canadian dollars). The largest Canadian airlines are Air Canada, Porter Airlines, and WestJet– all three of these fly to the United States.

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In October, 13,549 flights were scheduled from the United States to Canada, carrying 1,584,499 seats. On a weekly basis, there are 3,070 flights and 357,921 seats. Travel between the United States and Canada is relatively seamless (after all, it is often said to be the longest undefended border in the world).

All the top twenty busiest routes to Canada fly to the three main Canadian cities of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Flights between NYC and Toronto dominate the most frequently flown US/Canadian routes. Eight of the ten busiest routes to Canada go to Toronto (Canada’s largest city). Seven of these go to Toronto Pearson International Airport, and one goes to Billy Bishop Toronto City. Six more of the next ten busiest routes also fly to Toronto Pearson (meaning 14 of the top 20 routes go to Toronto).

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It is unclear why there aren’t more flights to Montreal, the second-largest Canadian city. The only two flights to Montreal to make the top twenty list are Air Canada’s NYC-LaGuardia to Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (the fourth busiest) and Air Canada’s Boston to Montréal–Trudeau (the 18th busiest).

From the US, all but eight of the ten busiest routes originate from the NYC area (LaGuardia and Newark). Notably, New York’s LaGuardia Airport is mostly domestic and only handles limited international flights (it does not have US Customs and Border Protection facilities). Consequently, it only receives international flights from airports serviced by US border preclearance (mostly Canadian airports).

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The ten busiest routes to Canada

The top five routes to Canada are Air Canada’s NYC-LaGuardia to Toronto Pearson with 336 flights, Porter Airlines’s Newark Liberty to Billy Bishop Toronto City with 273 flights, Air Canada’s Newark Liberty to Toronto Pearson with 216 flights, Air Canada’s NYC-LaGuardia to Toronto Pearson, Air Canada’s NYC-LaGuardia to Montréal–Trudeau with 206 flights, and United Airlines’s Chicago O’Hare to Toronto Pearson with 204 flights for the month.

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

The top ten busiest airline routes are United Airlines’ Newark Liberty to Toronto Pearson, Delta Air Lines’ NYC-LaGuardia to Toronto Pearson, Air Canada’s Los Angeles to Toronto Pearson, Delta Air Lines Seattle to Vancouver, and American Airlines’ NYC-LaGuardia to Toronto Pearson.