The Ottawa Airport continues to pursue direct flights to other European destinations after seeing steady growth in traffic between Ottawa and Paris since that route was introduced last year.
The head of the Ottawa International Airport Authority says the terminal continues to pursue direct flights to other European destinations after seeing steady growth in traffic between Ottawa and Paris since that route was introduced last year.
Air France, which launched service between Ottawa Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport last June, is currently the only carrier offering non-stop flights to Europe from Canada’s capital.
Air Canada suspended its routes to London’s Heathrow Airport early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and Lufthansa also scrapped its plan to replace Air Canada’s seasonal summer flights from Ottawa to Frankfurt in 2020 as the new coronavirus wreaked havoc with the travel industry.
Ottawa International Airport Authority CEO Mark Laroche told OBJ Thursday that London is high on the organization’s list of preferred new destinations.
“Obviously, Heathrow is a known market,” Laroche said. “It is something that we’re looking at and we’re hoping Air Canada will (bring back) their flight eventually, but they haven’t announced anything yet.”
Last month, Air France announced it was boosting its Ottawa-Paris service to seven days a week from five and upgrading the route to larger aircraft due to “escalating demand” for the flights.
Laroche said the popularity of the transatlantic route suggests there should be plenty of incentive for other airlines to step up their service to Europe from the nation’s capital.
He’s not expecting any announcements in the near future, however.
“The great news is Air France is doing great,” he said. “Charles de Gaulle is a great airport to connect beyond. They’re filling their aircraft, so that’s going well. I’m happy to have one successful route (to Europe), and we’re working to get a second one, but it’s not going to be this summer, that’s for sure.” 
