The last scheduled flights operated by Air Canada between Toronto and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York will be on Sunday, April 3, 2016, as Air Canada is the latest airline to end service to that airport.
United Airlines already ended service to John F. Kennedy International Airport effective as of Sunday, October 25, 2015 and instead is concentrating on its presence at its hub at Newark International Airport. This reason is similar for Air Canada in which the focus will also be on its operations at LaGuardia Airport — starting with increased service and capacity.
Delta Air Lines planned to acquire the slots of United Airlines at John F. Kennedy International Airport in exchange for United Airlines acquiring slots from Delta Air Lines at Newark International Airport; and each transaction is subject to regulatory approval — but the Justice Department of the United States filed a lawsuit back in November of 2015 to block the transaction in an effort to preserve competition, according to this article written by Bart Jansen of USA TODAY. No timeline has been defined as to when the lawsuit will be addressed or settled.
According to this short article written by JL of Airline Route, “Currently this route is being served twice a day with a mix of CRJ200/705 and Dash8-Q400 by Air Canada Express.” An Embraer ERJ-170-200 SU aircraft is shown on a taxiway at John F. Kennedy International Airport in the photograph at the top of this article. In contrast — from Toronto and Montréal — Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 aircraft will be used daily by Air Canada on the routes to LaGuardia Airport.
At least 240 roundtrip flights per week between the two airports in New York and the hubs of Air Canada of Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver and Calgary are expected — but none to John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Summary
Both Air Canada and United Airlines are members of Star Alliance; so when United Airlines ended service to John F. Kennedy International Airport, there really was no longer much of a need for Air Canada to serve that airport either — especially as the airline will concentrate its service on the other two major airports which serve the New York City metropolitan area.
Whether the exodus of airlines which are members of Star Alliance will continue from John F. Kennedy International Airport remains to be seen.
Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen.
