Charleston International Airport will add a nonstop route to the West Coast in March. Its only flight to Canada won’t return next year.

United Airlines will begin flying between Charleston and San Francisco International Airport on March 28, 2027, the airport announced Oct. 22. Flights will run Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays on Boeing 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 jets, according to the airport.

Two days earlier, The Post and Courier reported that Air Canada had dropped its plan to bring back the seasonal Charleston-Toronto route in summer 2027. That leaves Breeze Airways’ service to Cancun, Mexico, as the airport’s only planned international route next year, according to the newspaper.

A West Coast hub

The San Francisco flights will run seasonally from March through November, The Post and Courier reported. The route will link Charleston to United’s San Francisco hub, with connections across the West Coast, Asia and the Pacific, the airport said.

“This provides the community with convenient cross-country service to the West Coast and builds on United’s existing service between Charleston and our hubs in Chicago, Newark, Washington Dulles, Denver and Houston,” Mark Weithofer, United’s managing director of domestic network planning, said in the airport’s announcement.

Weithofer told The Post and Courier that United’s capacity at the airport this month was up 50% from a year earlier. The newspaper said the gain reflects a shift from smaller regional jets to larger mainline planes such as Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s, which add seats, including premium seats, without more flights.

United studied Charleston’s travel patterns and found that demand peaks in spring and fall, particularly April and October, and that many visitors fly in midweek for long weekends, Weithofer told the newspaper. The airline built the schedule around those patterns, he said.

“San Francisco is the largest gateway of any airline to connect the U.S. to all the points in the Asia Pacific,” Weithofer said, according to The Post and Courier.

Charleston’s only other nonstop flight to California is a seasonal Breeze route to Los Angeles International Airport, the newspaper reported. United has not announced a starting fare.

“This new transcontinental route strengthens our connection to the West Coast, supports our business and tourism communities, and gives travelers more choices when flying from their hometown airport,” airport President and CEO Elliott Summey said in the announcement.

Helen Hill, who chairs the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority and leads Explore Charleston, called the route “a strong vote of confidence in the Charleston region’s growing economy and its appeal as a world-class destination.”

Toronto on hold

Air Canada flew between Toronto and Charleston in 2001 and 2002 and revived the route in 2024, The Post and Courier reported. This year’s season began April 1 with six flights a week. Rising fuel costs led the airline to end it Sept. 6 instead of running through October, and at the time Air Canada said it planned to return in 2027, according to the newspaper.

“Air Canada regularly reviews its schedule to ensure capacity is aligned with customer demand and travel patterns,” an airline spokesperson told The Post and Courier. “As part of that process, we have made the decision to discontinue our summer 2027 Charleston-Toronto seasonal route for these commercial reasons.”

The airline has no timeline for resuming the flights. Gary Edwards, a Charleston-area air service consultant, told the newspaper that the carrier cited fuel costs and weaker demand from Canadian travelers, and that Charleston was not the only city to lose service.

“It’s not a no, not ever; it’s just no, not now,” Edwards said.

The Bermuda route ended first. BermudAir launched nonstop Charleston service in April 2025 and suspended it less than a year later, removing Charleston from its booking platform, The Post and Courier reported in January. The airline said it was open to returning but set no date.

Room for international arrivals

The pullbacks come as the airport builds space for international passengers. Its West Gates expansion, a $105 million, two-level concourse, will add four gates and 40,000 square feet, including space for international arrivals, according to RMF Engineering, which is designing the project’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. The new gates will connect directly to the airport’s federal inspection station, Aviation Pros reported in August.

Airport officials expect the major construction projects, including a $348 million parking garage, to be finished in 2027, according to Aviation Pros, which put the airport’s traffic at about 6.3 million passengers a year.

In September, Charleston International ranked first among midsize airports in the J.D. Power North America Airport Satisfaction Study, WCSC Live 5 News reported.

Edwards told The Post and Courier he had reviewed positive 2027 forecasts from other airlines serving Charleston and was optimistic about the year ahead. Breeze, which announced a Charleston-Buffalo route this month, has grown almost 20% in Charleston so far this year, according to the newspaper.