In an unexpected and unusual development, Air Transat, Canada’s leisure airline, has announced two brand-new routes to Europe. After years of hard work behind the scenes, it’ll fly to the Canary Islands for the first time. The Spanish archipelago is located much closer to Africa than it is to mainland Spain.

Until now, Canada has not had any flights to the Canaries. In April, Air Canada announced the first service from Montreal and Toronto to Tenerife. Now it is Air Transat’s turn. The number of routes has gone from zero to four in very little time. It remains to be seen if it’s sustainable.

Air Transat To Gran Canaria

Known as a ‘miniature continent’ due to the diverse landscapes, Gran Canaria is neither the largest nor the most populated island in the Canaries. Tenerife ranks first in both senses. Presumably influenced by Air Canada’s two upcoming routes to Tenerife South Airport (TFS), Air Transat has selected to fly to Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) instead. It is unknown whether Air Transat had originally planned to fly to TFS.

In 2025, booking data shows that fewer than 20,000 people traveled between North America and LPA, of which fewer than 3,000 people flew to/from Canada. The existing market was predictably tiny.

The figures for TFS are marginally better, influenced by United Airlines operating from Newark during part of last year. 24,000 people traveled, of which Canada had around 5,000. When Tenerife North (TFN) is included, which mainly serves local communities rather than tourists, the whole island’s North American traffic rose to nearly 40,000 passengers. Canada only had one in ten of them.

This Is What Air Transat Is Offering

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The Canaries are more or less the only warm places in Europe during the winter. On December 12, Air Transat will take off from Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL) to LPA. The following day, Canada’s leisure operator will inaugurate a service from Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) to LPA. They will certainly make the weekly celebratory new routes article (see this week’s edition).

Both brand-new airport pairs will be served weekly during the northern winter using the 199-seat Airbus A321LR. While it is not a like-for-like comparison, United struggled massively from Newark, with the operating season changing more than once. Like Air Canada, Air Transat will operate during the winter only.

Air Transat’s very low frequency is sensible, because the existing local traffic is tiny. In 2025, both YUL and YYZ had fewer than 1,000 LPA passengers. Of course, the airline will easily grow this volume through nonstop flights and, hopefully, reasonable fares and strong promotions, including in collaboration with the Canary Islands tourist authority. It’ll also capture passengers flying elsewhere via YUL and YYZ in partnership with Porter Airlines. Air Transat has undoubtedly received a hefty financial incentive to help balance the risk.

Flights from YUL to LPA will cover 2,934 nautical miles (5,434 km), while it’ll be 3,191 nautical miles (5,910 km) for YYZ. Despite the small difference in distance, Air Transat’s website indicates that YYZ flights have a maximum block time (which includes taxi time, flight time, and a period for short delays) exceeding nine hours.

The Airline’s Other New Transatlantic A321 Routes This Year

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Air Transat’s schedule submission to Cirium Diio has been used to compare its transatlantic A321 network between 2022 and 2025 with what is available in 2026. Doing so indicates eight routes are coming: five to Europe and two to Africa.

It’ll introduce flights from Ottawa to London Gatwick (May 15), Quebec City to Marseille (May 21), Quebec City to Nantes (June 2), YUL to Agadir (June 12), YUL to Keflavik (June 16), YUL to Dakar (June 17), YUL to LPA (December 12), and YYZ to LPA (December 13). Only two of them have seen the carrier before (Ottawa to Gatwick and Quebec City to Marseille), when the A310 and A330 were used.