Niagara-on-the-Lake travellers will soon be able to start an Air Canada trip from their local airport — but instead of boarding a plane, the journey will begin on a bus.
Air Canada and the Landline Company announced Thursday that a luxury motorcoach service will connect Niagara District Airport to Toronto Pearson International Airport starting June 15, allowing passengers to book the bus as part of their flight itinerary — similar to a connecting flight.
The service will run six trips a day — three departures from the airport on Niagara Stone Road and three return trips from Toronto Pearson.
Buses will leave Niagara at 5:30 a.m., 11:20 a.m. and 4:05 p.m., with return trips from Toronto at 8 a.m., 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Travel time ranges from 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes each way.
Travellers will check in at Niagara before boarding the motorcoach, receiving boarding passes and having bags tagged to their final destination. At Pearson, they proceed to bag drop, security and their departure gate.
When booked as part of an Air Canada itinerary, the motorcoach connection will not increase the cost of a flight.
The shuttle can also be booked separately through the company’s website.
Travellers who book the motorcoach separately or are using a different airline, including those travelling through Air Canada Vacations packages, would pay $49, Landline vice-president of commercial Nick Johnson said in an interview.
“If you think about a $300 fare to Vancouver — you could potentially spend that much in parking at Pearson for, you know, two weeks or something,” said Johnson.
Passengers will travel on Air Canada-branded motorcoaches offering Wi-Fi, power outlets and reclining seats. Customers also can earn Aeroplan points earning. Free parking will available at the Niagara airport.
Airport chief executive officer Dan Pilon told The Lake Report the airport is adding about 50 to 55 parking spaces, bringing the total capacity to roughly 150 to accommodate additional visitors.
“In the grass in front of our parking spot, there’s a whole lot of little flags — those little flags are all locates for different services that are going through those areas. So we’re going to be expanding our lot outward,” said Pilon. “There will be a number of things we do to change the customer experience at the airport.”
The parking expansion is expected to be completed before the service launches in June and will cost about $80,000 from the airport’s capital budget.
“There’s a nice laundry list of items that we’re going to have to support and look at,” Pilon said. “There’s revenue sources to supplement that as well.”
Pilon said the airport will receive passenger revenue from the service, similar to fees collected from airline passengers — and will have future office leases and likely additional advertising revenue streams.
“We might be charging for parking,” he added. “We don’t have that in place right now.”
During a question-and-answer period after the announcement, The Lake Report asked whether the motorcoach would still be needed if commercial flights eventually operate from Niagara — something the airport’s recently-released 2025–2045 master plan identifies as a long-term vision.
Pilon said the answer isn’t straightforward.
“It might make this type of service redundant, but it may not.”
He said service departing from Niagara “may be going to Ottawa, to Montreal, to New York, to Boston” — but nonetheless, “connectivity through Pearson may still be an integral part of what’s needed.”
“This may continue to be, if anything, even more important at that point,” said Pilon.
Landline has already looked at that exact scenario and planned for it, said Johnson.
“If there’s an air service here and more people use the YCM airport, it actually strengthens the service,” he said.
“Because more people can make every single trip start and end here.”
Pilon said the partnership reflects the airport’s long-term vision for the facility, leveraging its proximity to Toronto Pearson while helping connect Niagara travellers to Air Canada’s global network.
“Having a greater influx of individuals to your facility offers you a number of different scenarios for revenue streams,” he said.
Coun. Erwin Wiens, who sits on the airport commission, said the new service is an important step in testing demand for the airport and making the facility financially sustainable.
“We’re hoping to turn it from a liability to an asset — that’s actually funding itself,” Wiens said in an interview.
“It’s a terrific first step to see if there’s an appetite for it as we move forward,” he added.
In his remarks, Wiens said the airport will now become “the lynchpin of how we get people here” and acknowledged several NOTL councillors in attendance, including Couns. Wendy Cheropita, Tim Balasiuk, Maria Mavridis, Adriana Vizzari and Gary Burroughs.
The director of regional airlines and markets at Air Canada, Ranbir Singh, said “beginning today, we’re linking Niagara District Airport with our global hub at Pearson.”
A second pickup and drop-off location will also be available at the Marriott on the Falls hotel in Niagara Falls.
