A New Airline Will Soon Be Flying Out Of Billy Bishop Airport & Here's Where It Will Go

It may be best known as the home base for Porter Airlines, but Toronto's Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ) could soon be ready to welcome another airline to its tarmac in 2023.

A project that's been two years in the making appears nearly ready for launch, with Connect Airlines potentially weeks away from securing the necessary certifications for its planes to start flying out of Toronto's island airport.

"Keep an eye out for @ConnectAirlines in YTZ airspace this month, as they are back conducting more US Regulatory Proving Flights," reads a Tweet from Billy Bishop airport.

According to the latest update from Connect Airlines on December 27, the proving runs are one of the last steps of the process before the airline can launch its service, and the runs are almost complete.

"We've probably got another month of the proving runs, and then we'll be done," said Connect Airlines CEO John Thomas in an interview.

After that, the final step is securing a Foreign Air Operator's Certificate (FAOC) from Transport Canada, which the airline said could take another six weeks.

Connect Airlines hasn't yet committed to a launch date, seeing as they're already well behind on their initial targeted launch of October 2021.

Once the airline begins its operations, it will offer service from Billy Bishop Airport to Philadelphia Int'l. (PHL), Chicago O'Hare (ORD), and Baltimore Thurgood Marshall (BWI). Its website mentions three daily flights from Toronto.

The airline said it aims to add other destinations "as quickly as possible." There are no details yet on how much these flight tickets will cost.

It'll certainly be an option for an easy getaway for anyone interested in these three destinations, but overall, Connect Airlines is positioning itself as a preferred option in business travel.

"For the business traveller, if you're flying point-to-point to Toronto, Billy Bishop is much more convenient. So it's about opening up routes that make it easier for people to get there," said Thomas, while he argued the delays to the launch of this airline "may benefit the carrier as Canada only lifted its last Covid-19 travel restrictions on October 1, 2022, while business travel is also just starting to recover from the pandemic."

Porter Airlines already flies to Philadelphia International Airport, but its flights to Chicago are through Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW), and it does not fly to Baltimore.

Connect Airlines also announced it is raising $8 million in a second round of funding and has plans to explain its fleet of Q400 aircraft to eight by the end of March 2023, which is the earliest we could see its operations out of Billy Bishop begin on its current timeline.