Porter Traded Chicago’s Midway for the Big Hub

Porter Airlines now flies twice daily between Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport and Chicago O’Hare, a route it moved from Chicago Midway. The service uses 78-seat Dash 8-400 turboprops, and a trade roundup this week listed it among the network changes for the week of October 26. The switch gives passengers connections through O’Hare via Porter’s codeshare with American Airlines.

The airline announced the change earlier this year alongside a new Austin route and a seasonal Ottawa-Deer Lake service. Moving to O’Hare matters because that airport is a major hub, so a traveller flying from downtown Toronto can reach a wide range of onward American Airlines destinations on a single ticket instead of treating Chicago as a point-to-point trip.

Billy Bishop is on the waterfront minutes from downtown, which is Porter’s main selling point against flying from Toronto Pearson. The competitive picture is shifting, though: coverage of the earlier announcement noted that Air Canada has also expanded service at the same airport, including a Chicago O’Hare nonstop that started on June 1, 2026.

For travellers, the practical point is to check which Chicago airport your booking uses. Midway and O’Hare are on opposite sides of the city, and ground transport times differ. If you are connecting, the O’Hare switch should make through-ticketing simpler, but confirm baggage and codeshare rules at the time of booking, since they vary by itinerary.

Sources: Aviation Week, Business Wire