Cleveland Hopkins International Airport celebrated its first nonstop service to Montreal on 1 May, as Air Canada flight AC8680 departed with a water-cannon salute and speeches by Mayor Justin Bibb. The service operates daily with 76-seat Mitsubishi CRJ-900 aircraft, providing onward connections through Air Canada’s Montreal hub to Europe, Asia and across Canada. For business travellers, the route restores a direct link that disappeared when United left the market in 2014. Corporate travel managers in northeast Ohio say the flight trims at least two hours off itineraries that previously required a Toronto connection. On the Canadian side, Tourisme Montréal hopes to lure American visitors ahead of the Formula 1 Grand Prix (22-24 May), projecting an extra 20,000 hotel-room nights. Montreal-based exporters also gain: the new service departs Cleveland at 18:50, arriving in time to connect to the late-evening bank of trans-Atlantic departures. Air freight capacity—though limited to belly space—offers same-day uplift for auto-parts suppliers shipping prototypes to European plants. The launch underscores Air Canada’s post-pandemic strategy of reclaiming U.S. ‘spoke’ markets to feed its international network. Since January the carrier has opened five U.S. routes, leveraging a revived trans-border market even as overall Canada-U.S. passenger numbers slide. Airport officials hinted that additional Canadian destinations could follow if load factors exceed 75 % through summer. Travellers should note that NEXUS holders can use dedicated kiosks at Montréal-Trudeau, potentially offsetting longer U.S. security queues in Cleveland, which does not yet offer TSA PreCheck lanes at every concourse.
Source: WOIO Cleveland 19 News
