CORRECTION: This article has been updated to note that the scheduled passenger flights between Niagara District Airport and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport will be starting on Monday, Nov. 2, not Monday, Oct. 26.
Next Monday will mark a milestone for the Niagara District Airport: new flights connecting passengers from Niagara-on-the-Lake to the heart of Toronto.
Aspen Air Charters is launching scheduled passenger flights taking travellers between the NOTL airport and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, with the first batch of flights taking off on Nov. 2.
On Wednesday evening, Oct. 21, Aspen Air Charters’ website had a page — circulated by Niagara Falls’ mayor Jim Diodati and Coun. Mona Patel — for scheduled passenger flights, which showed the launch of flights between the Niagara airport and the Toronto city airport beginning Oct. 26.
Two flights were scheduled to take off every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Lake Report published the details of the planned flights in its Oct. 22 edition and online.
As of Thursday, Oct. 22, that webpage (aspenaircharters.com/scheduled-flights) is unavailable.
Megan McRae, spokesperson for the Niagara District Airport, said the flight service company is finalizing the details of its new scheduled flights and will launch a new booking page once it is ready. She did not share when that would be.
Coun. Erwin Wiens, a board member on the Niagara District Airport Commission, said this plan to connect Niagara District Airport with the Toronto city airport has been in the works for a little more than six months.
“(I’m) super excited that this new venture is taking off,” he told The Lake Report. “This will be a great addition to the Air Canada landline, which has just been expanded to five routes to Pearson.”
This launch comes a week after Air Canada and Landline Company announced it’ll be adding two more arrival times to its motorcoach service that takes flyers between the NOTL airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport, beginning Dec. 14. The bus service launched mid-June.
Founded two years ago, Aspen Air is a private aviation and charter plane service operating across Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern United States. This is the first time it’s offering scheduled flights for passengers.
Along with flights between Niagara and Toronto, it’ll be launching scheduled flights between Sarnia Chris Hadfield Airport and the Billy Bishop airport.
