Air Canada Targets Winter Sun Demand With Four New Routes

Air Canada has announced the addition of four new sun routes in its winter 2023-24 schedule, along with expanded service to the U.S., Mexico, and Caribbean destinations. 

The airline will introduce two routes from Toronto Pearson (YYZ) and two from Montreal (YUL). A further 36 leisure routes will receive capacity increases, seven of which are from Vancouver (YVR).

Starting Oct. 29, year-round flights from Toronto to Monterrey, Mexico, will operate four times per week. 

The second new route to Fort-de-France (FDF), Martinique, will commence on Dec. 16 and will be available weekly on Saturdays. These flights from YYZ will supplement the Star Alliance member’s year-round service from YUL, resulting in up to seven flights per week during the peak winter season. 

According to OAG Schedules Analyser data, Air Canada will become the sole provider of nonstop flights from Toronto to both Monterey and Fort-de-France.

From Montreal, Air Canada is adding a seasonal weekly route to Los Cabos, Mexico, from Dec. 1, as well as a weekly flight to La Romana, Dominican Republic, from Dec. 17. Montreal-La Romana has previously been served by the airline, most recently for a limited time during early 2018.

OAG data shows that Sunwing Airlines offered flights from Montreal to both Los Cabos and La Romana during winter 2022-23, while Air Transat served YUL-La Romana.

“Air Canada continues implementing its global network strategy and has extended several European routes to year-round including Toulouse, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Rome, Madrid and Copenhagen,” said Mark Galardo, executive VP, revenue and network planning at Air Canada.

“We have optimized our schedule to conveniently connect Europe to popular leisure destinations in Florida and Mexico, enabling customers from Spain, France, Italy, the UK and Denmark to enjoy one-stop travel to sought-after North American vacation destinations this winter.”

In addition to the four new routes, Air Canada is increasing capacity on 36 winter sun routes. Among the changes are Vancouver-Las Vegas and Vancouver-Phoenix doubling from daily to 2X-daily, and a third daily flight between Toronto and Fort Myers.

Overall, Air Canada's winter sun schedule anticipates an 11% capacity increase from 2022, and 8% more than its 2019 pre-pandemic sun schedule.