It’s all steam ahead on narrowbody transatlantic expansion next year. From Iberia’s new routes to Newark and Toronto with the A321XLR and WestJet’s European expansion with new routes to places like Cardiff, Wales, with its Boeing 737 MAX fleet, the narrowbodies are taking centre stage.

Now, Air Canada is joining in the transatlantic narrowbody push. Its Airbus A321XLRs and 737 MAX 8s will drive expansion to places it has not operated to before in Europe, including to secondary markets like Ponta Delgada, Portugal, and Nantes, France.

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Air Canada’s transatlantic expansion

Air Canada will launch flights to three brand-new destinations, add a route to Brussels, Belgium, which it already serves, and resume flying on its second route to Tel Aviv, Israel.

With the exception of Tel Aviv, all of these routes are a testament to the growing importance of narrowbodies in the transatlantic market. As an Aerospace Global News report found last month, the fastest-growing transatlantic gateways in the United States are driven by narrowbody expansion.

Berlin

Air Canada will have no direct competition on its new route to Berlin, though Air Transat does offer flights from Toronto (YYZ).

Berlin represents the airline’s sixth destination with its Airbus A321XLR. It had previously been revealed that flights to the following destinations would begin next summer with its newest narrowbody jet.

• Palma de Mallorca, Spain (3,777 miles)
• Toulouse, France (3,570 miles)
• Porto, Portugal (3,201 miles)
• Edinburgh, Scotland (3,032 miles)
• Dublin, Ireland (2,974 miles)

Flights to Porto were revealed later than the others in a schedule filing at the end of October.

Nantes

Nantes is a fairly unusual destination to announce for new transatlantic flights. Demand is limited, though the market has already been stimulated thanks to Air Transat’s existing non-stop service from Montreal.

Transat will use a mix of Airbus A330-200 and A321neo equipment next summer – offering considerably more capacity than Air Canada’s MAX.

This route will become Air Canada’s longest 737 MAX flight by distance.

It is not immediately clear why Air Canada decided to launch the route, though it could be part of a strategic move to compete more aggressively with Air Transat on the transatlantic front.

Ponta Delgada

The Canada to Ponta Delgada market is already served by two airlines: WestJet and Azores Airlines.

Weekly schedule between Canada and Ponta Delgada in August 2025

Source: Cirium

The airline says that this new route “reflects the strong cultural ties between our two countries.” Indeed, the route will primarily serve (lower-yielding) Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) traffic, particularly the nearly one million Azoreans that live in North America.

Only about 240,000 people live in the Azores themselves, but some 55,000 Azoreans are said to live in Toronto.

Brussels

The new Halifax-Brussels route joins Air Canada’s existing services from Toronto and Montreal. Both of the existing flights cater not only to point-to-point demand, but equally to travellers flying between Canada and Africa.

Joint venture partners Air Canada, United Airlines and Brussels Airlines (part of the Lufthansa Group) agreed to make Brussels a connecting hub for North American traffic to sub-Saharan Africa, one of the Belgian flag carrier’s core markets.

The 2016 Canada Census shows that just under 18,000 people in Nova Scotia were of African origin. The new Halifax flight will probably cater to this VFR traffic, but will also serve point-to-point demand. It will also try and capture more point-to-point demand, and possibly steal some market share from WestJet on its routes to nearby Amsterdam and Paris.

Tel Aviv

Air Canada’s return to the Montreal to Tel Aviv route is unsurprising as the destination continues its North American recovery. Across the border, United and Delta have both already returned to their Israel routes, while American Airlines will resume flights from New York-JFK as of next summer. Air Canada resumed flights from Toronto in October.

Air Canada is the North American airline with the 2nd most destinations in Europe

United Airlines has the most transatlantic destinations of all North American carriers – and the most seats. Air Canada has now risen to second, overtaking Delta Air Lines from July 2026.

Although it does not offer the most seats, it is focused on connectivity: using its narrowbodies strategically to enable additional consumer choice and appeal to more travellers.

Number of transatlantic destinations served by North American airlines in August 2026

Air Transat and Delta Air Lines are not far behind by number of destinations served. Delta has the advantage of capacity, and by number of seats offered, it ranks second after United.

Featured image: Air Canada

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