Canadians Shuffling Off To, And From, Buffalo

More than two million Canadians a year are already flying out of Buffalo, but it’s a number, and market, that Buffalo officials think can be higher.

A delegation of Buffalo tourism officials were in Toronto yesterday (Oct. 21) to promote the affordability and convenience of flying out of the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

“Southern Ontarians have to bear some of the highest travel costs in the country,” noted Pascal Cohen, senior manager of Marketing & Aviation Business Development at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. “We are here to offer an attractive alternative for travellers to save on their travel by flying from across the border,”

Cohen stressed to PressToday that Buffalo is not out to compete with Toronto’s Pearson International, but simply to offer travellers an option, one he says is very attractive for many reasons — namely the convenience of flying out of a small airport (think no line-ups) and price point. For example, it was reported, on average, a family of four can save more than $500 on a trip to Orlando by flying out of Buffalo instead of Pearson.

Cohen noted that business travellers also benefit from substantial savings for top US gateways such as New York, Chicago and Boston, with fare savings from 30% to 60% on select dates.

Two Canadian tour operators – Sunwing and Sunquest – seem to agree with the concept, having launched programs out of Buffalo.

Pictured at the Toronto event are (l-r) Cohan and Buffalo Niagara Partnership’s Dottie Gallagher-Cohen, Bryan Roth, Laura Smith and Daniel Leonard.