Agreement Eases Air Travel To Canada

If you haven’t been paying close attention, Canada may seem like the same neighborly, northerly, placid, occasionally overlooked nation it’s been for the last century or so.

But U.S.-based travelers should look again. Last year’s Open Skies agreement has made the nation to our north a more convenient destination, and in many cases a more affordable one.

The pact allowed Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International unlimited route rights from Canada to American cities and reduced most limits on flights by U.S. carriers to and from Canada. (Remaining restrictions on U.S. carrier service to Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are to be lifted in phases over two to three years.)

Within two weeks, Air Canada was adding flights and now flies more often between the two countries than any other carrier.

Meanwhile, amid the jostling by other carriers, United and Alaska airlines have been scheming to boost their West Coast U.S.-Canada offerings. To handle all this traffic and the further increases that are forecast, a new international terminal is soon to open at Vancouver’s airport.

Tallying flight figures from May 1 to Dec. 31, Vancouver airport officials found that U.S.-Canada air passenger traffic had increased 23 percent over the same period the year before.

In its March issue, which explores the Open Skies pact after a year in place, Frequent Flyer magazine forecast an overall increase of 150 percent in air passenger traffic over the next decade.

Airline officials say demand has caught up with supply remarkably quickly, perhaps because the Canadian dollar has remained weak against the U.S. dollar.