Air Canada announced the resumption of its seasonal flights between Ottawa and London Heathrow following a five-year suspension. In accordance with the press release, services will begin on March 31st, 2025, with four weekly frequencies.

The airline will offer these operations by Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft configured for 298 passengers in three seating classes. Air Canada’s 787s have 30 seats in Business, 21 in Premium and 247 in Economy.

At the time of publication, Air Canada will be the only carrier to operate flights to the United Kingdom from Canada’s capital, and the second to perform scheduled services to Europe after Air France, which offers a daily flight from/to Paris on 324-seat Airbus A350-900s.

“We are very pleased to solidify Air Canada’s leadership serving our country’s capital with the resumption of trans-Atlantic services beginning next spring. In addition to London being a top global destination, Heathrow is one of the world’s primary global gateways as well as home to Air Canada’s largest international operations. Conveniently located together with our Star Alliance partner airlines in The Queen’s Terminal, Air Canada offers customers easy connections to a vast array of more than 30 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa with our airline partners. With continued demand for visiting friends, relatives, leisure and tourism, as well as supporting business and corporate travel, this route gives customers from both the National Capital Region and abroad direct, convenient international travel options to and from Ottawa,” said Mark Galardo, Executive Vice President – Revenue and Network Planning at Air Canada.

“We are looking forward to the future delivery of Air Canada’s new Airbus A321XLR fleet. The economics, optimum cabin size and range of the XLR which is expected to begin arriving in late 2025, will enable us to consider operating this important international route with greater frequencies and potentially with year-round service,” he concluded.

Schedule between Ottawa and London Heathrow

Monday and Thursday

• AC 889  London LHR 14:05 · 16:45 YOW Ottawa
• AC 888  Ottawa YOW 18:40 · 06:30+1 LHR London

Wednesday and Saturday

• AC 889  London LHR 12:40 · 15:20 YOW Ottawa
• AC 888  Ottawa YOW 20:55 · 08:35+1 LHR London

Air Canada continues to expand its network of destinations and flights to/from Ottawa.

The return of the seasonal Ottawa – London Heathrow route is confirmed weeks after Air Canada’s announcement of a significant increase in frequencies on several domestic and international routes. During peak season, the airline is scheduled to operate up to 230 flights a week from/to Ottawa between its domestic and international connections, plus its transatlantic destination.

Domestic schedule

• Calgary (YYC): service extended to year-round · 7 weekly
• Halifax (YHZ): increased from 7 to 21 weekly in July
• Montreal (YUL): 49 weekly · CRJ-900 and Dash 8
• Quebec (YQB): increased to 7 weekly in July
• Toronto City (YTZ): 28 weekly · Dash 8
• Toronto (YYZ): 68 weekly · A220/A319/A320/A321/7M8/E175
• Vancouver (YVR): 14 weekly (7 with Boeing 787-9)
• Winnipeg (YWG): service extended to year-round · 7 weekly

International schedule – seasonal (Winter 2024/25)

• Cancún (CUN): increase from 3 to 4 weekly
• Fort Lauderdale (FLL): increase from 4 to 6 weekly
• Orlando (MCO): increase from 2 to 4 weekly
• Punta Cana (PUJ): increase from 3 to 4 weekly
• Tampa (TPA): increase from 1 to 2 weekly

Europe – seasonal (Summer 2025)

• London Heathrow (LHR): 4 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

“Ottawa is an important part of Air Canada’s network and in response to demand, we are growing our capacity to our nation’s capital city by almost 60 per cent compared to 2023. We are very excited to add more flights to the rest of the country with the extension of key non-stop routes to year-round and additional capacity to other cities. We are also adding capacity to popular sun destinations and in conjunction with our joint venture partner United Airlines, increasing options for travel to and from the U.S.,” commented Mark Galardo.

Currently, Ottawa has 23 regular routes, 16 of which are within Canada.

Air Canada and Porter are the main carriers at Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, and Air France, Air North, Canadian North, Flair, United Airlines and WestJet also have services.

Ottawa gains many international connections throughout high season, especially to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico and the United States.

Passenger traffic at Ottawa Airport has been recovering from its sharp decrease as a result of the pandemic. During 2023, the number of passengers was almost 4.1 million, 36% more than in 2022.

The airport’s record number of passengers per year is still held by 2018, with a total of 5.1 million. Excluding 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, Ottawa Airport surpasses 4 million passengers since 2007, while 5 million in 2018 and 2019.

Other reports we have published

• Europe
• Asia and Oceania
• Africa and Middle East
• United States and Canada
• East and West: Edelweiss adds new North American routes
• Family and tourism: Royal Air Maroc launches two new routes

Cover photo: Dani Guerrero – JetPhotos (London Heathrow, United Kingdom).