For the first time since 2019, passengers will be able to fly nonstop from San Antonio to Canada’s largest city.
“Today, San Antonio Airport adds Air Canada to our route map with new nonstop service to Toronto,” said San Antonio Airport Director Jesus Saenz at a Monday morning press conference.
The new Air Canada flights will run three days a week between May and October, Saenz said.
Basic economy tickets will cost around $246 from San Antonio to Toronto and about $296 coming back, according to Air Canada’s booking website, with higher prices for more services, including business class and checked or carry-on bags.
Flights to Toronto will depart Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 10:30 a.m., according to Air Canada’s website, and return to San Antonio on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6:20 p.m. The flight is roughly 4.5 hours.
Air Canada added nonstop flights between Toronto and San Antonio in 2017, but shut those flights down in 2019.
The addition of a Canadian airline comes after flights to Morelia and San Luis Potosí began service in July.
Saenz and City Manager Erik Walsh said the flights were important for the city’s economic development, connecting San Antonio directly to an international economic center.
“Toronto is not only Canada’s largest city, but its financial hub,” Walsh said.
Adding flights was an incremental step that made San Antonio more attractive to businesses, investment and jobs, Walsh added.
Customer demand and leisure travel between the two cities were important, Saenz added, but business needs had driven San Antonio Airport’s efforts to bring flights back to Toronto.
“It’s not just the demand, it’s the opportunity of being able to connect additional businesses,” he said. “We know that we have not only citizens, but businesses that want to connect directly into Canada, and that’s really where the crux is for us: to be able to connect the service with them.”
Local economic experts have taken notice. Officials at Greater:SATX, an organization that works to bring new businesses and jobs to San Antonio, praised the new flight.
“Nonstop service from San Antonio to Toronto is a direct connection to global opportunity — enhancing our region’s competitiveness, expanding access to international markets, and further positioning San Antonio as a gateway for cross-border investment,” said Greater:SATX CEO Sarah Carabias Rush in an email.
Flights to Toronto will also help San Antonio Airport customers fly to Europe, Saenz added. In 2024, German airline Condor canceled its nonstop flights to Frankfurt, the airport’s first nonstop transatlantic flight.
Saenz said things have changed since Air Canada withdrew its flight in 2019. He wants to see nonstop flights to Toronto grow to year-round and take place every day of the week.
“Our plans are to not end in October to demonstrate that the demand is there and we want to continue to grow,” he said.
Saenz and Walsh hinted at more international destinations in the future. San Antonio Airport has nine destinations in Mexico and, now, one in Canada.
“We want to re establish the connectivity into Europe and we want to make that happen as soon as possible,” Saenz said. “Mexico has got a lot to offer. Central America and South America are important to us. We have a lot of work in progress.”
