Fly to Canada

Fly to CanadaAre you thinking about emigrating to Canada? With dazzling landscapes of soaring mountains, vivid lakes and alpine forests, beautiful cities like Vancouver and friendly people, we don’t blame you. A vast sprawling country, Canada is second only to Russia in terms of land size and home to over 1300 airports. So if you’re planning on moving, it’s a good idea to consider how to get there, the travel time, costs, the best ways to book your flight and how to navigate Canada’s airports.

How to get there

Many international carriers fly to Canada. The major airlines include Air Canada, Qantas, Air New Zealand, United, Delta, Air China, Korean Air, Japan Airlines and British Airways.

If you’re headed to East Canada, you’ll be flying into Montréal Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport (YUL); Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ); Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ); or Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW).

For Central Canada, fly to Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport (YWG); Calgary International Airport (YYC); or Edmonton International Airport (YEG).

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) serves West Canada.

Costs and time

Cheap flights to Canada land in the biggest cities – Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and Calgary.

Direct flights from the UK are available from a range of airports such as Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow to Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

To give you an idea of costs, a direct one way flight from London Gatwick to Toronto takes about 8 hours and costs from £300 upwards. Average return flights are from around £500.

One way flights to Vancouver from the same airport can take 14 hours upwards with stopovers in destinations such as Paris, Amsterdam and Istanbul, priced from around £400 upwards.

Airports in Canada

Toronto Pearson International Airport is the largest and busiest airport in Canada. The airport is located 14 miles northwest of Downtown Toronto, in the municipality of Mississauga, and serves the province of Ontario that has 12 million inhabitants.

It is serviced by many easy-to-use public transport options, including the Link train which stops at Terminals 1 and 3 before taking you straight to the city centre.

Canada’s second largest airport, Vancouver International Airport, is around 17.4 miles from downtown Vancouver. Passengers can get to and from the airport in 26 minutes using the Canada Line rapid transit rail link.

The third largest, Calgary International Airport, is located at the foot of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, 10.6 miles from downtown Calgary. The airport has a variety of transportation options like public buses, taxis, airport shuttles, private vehicles and car rentals.

Try to get into the habit of cross-checking at least three sites to find the cheapest flight. If you want to fly a particular airline, sometimes it’s worth checking directly on its website for flights which can sometimes prove to be cheaper, or may not show up in flight comparison searches.

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