Chicago Welcomes New Air Canada ORD Flights from YTZ
by Bruce Parkinson
Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.
The Chicago Department of Aviation joined with Air Canada to celebrate the launch of the carrier’s first-ever route from O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ).
The route provides more direct access to downtown Toronto and the new U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance facility at YTZ enables convenient travel from the city centre to Chicago, supplementing Air Canada’s existing service to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.
“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,” CDA Commissioner Michael J. McMurray said.
“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.”
“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,” said Alexandre Lefevre, Air Canada’s VP, Network Planning & Global Sales.
“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. ”
The twice-daily route operates on a 78-seat, all-economy, Dash 8 turboprop aircraft. 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.
