Air Canada keeps up U.S. push with six new routes, three new cities

Air Canada is pushing ahead with its aggressive U.S. expansion, announcing six Air Canada Express routes and three new destinations.

The cities being added to Air Canada’s route map are Omaha, Providence and Sacramento. Air Canada will connect Omaha and Providence to its Toronto hub while Sacramento will be served from the company’s hub in Vancouver. (Scroll down for full schedule details)

The three other routes included in Air Canada’s announcement are San Francisco-Edmonton; Montreal-Baltimore/Washington (BWI) and Montreal-Pittsburgh.

From San Francisco (SFO), the Edmonton flights will give Air Canada a total of five destinations. It already flies from SFO to Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. From both BWI and Pittsburgh, Montreal will augment existing Air Canada service to Toronto Pearson.

"We continue to strategically expand our already extensive North American trans-border network to offer the only services from Canada to Sacramento, Omaha, Providence, and flights from additional Canadian airports to Baltimore, Pittsburgh and San Francisco," Benjamin Smith, Air Canada’s president for passenger airlines, said in a statement.

"As the largest foreign carrier serving the USA, we are pleased to offer customers even more non-stop travel choices between Canada and the US, as well as the ability to conveniently connect onward through our extensive global network at our Canadian hubs on North America's Best Airline as rated by Skytrax,” Smith added.

The new U.S. routes come as Air Canada is becoming increasingly global in its ambitions. Since 2015, Air Canada has announced dozens of new routes to international destinations such as Algiers, Algeria; Berlin; Bucharest, Romania; Prague; Casablanca, Morocco; Mumbai; Brisbane, Australia; Zagreb, Croatia; and Marseille, France, among others.

But Air Canada’s most aggressive expansion during that time may have come on routes to the United States. A series of expansions during the past two years has greatly expanded the carrier's presence here, which the airline is counting on to help feed its burgeoning overseas schedules from its Canadian hubs.

“To many of our customers in the United States, we’re this little secret that nobody knows about; this airline north of the border that actually flies internationally,” Air Canada’s Smith told Today in the Sky earlier this year. “If you want to go to Europe or Asia, you’ve got to fly over Canada if you’re originating or ending in the U.S. That puts us in a very privileged position to offer connections.”

Scroll down for the launch and schedule details for the six new routes announced Wednesday (Nov. 29):

Baltimore/Washington-Montreal: Begins May 17, year-round service. One daily round-trip flight will be operated by Air Canada Express on 50-seat Bombardier CRJ regional jets.

Omaha-Toronto Pearson: Begins May 1, year-round service. One daily round-trip flight will be operated by Air Canada Express on 50-seat Bombardier CRJ regional jets.

Pittsburgh-Montreal: Begins May 17, year-round service. One daily round-trip flight will be operated by Air Canada Express on 50-seat Bombardier CRJ regional jets.

Providence-Toronto Pearson: Begins May 17, seasonal for the summer schedule. One daily round-trip flight will be operated by Air Canada Express on 50-seat Bombardier CRJ regional jets.

San Francisco-Edmonton: Begins May 1, year-round service. One daily round-trip flight will be operated by Air Canada Express on a mix of 75-seat Bombardier CRJ 700 and 76-seat Bombardier CRJ 900 aircraft.

Sacramento-Vancouver: Begins May 17, year-round service. One daily round-trip flight will be operated by Air Canada Express on a mix of 75-seat Bombardier CRJ 700 and 76-seat Bombardier CRJ 900 aircraft.

(Ben Mutzabaugh - Today in the Sky / USA Today)