by Jen Mallia
Last updated: 3:10 PM ET, Tue May 26, 2026
With June rapidly approaching, Air Canada is launching its long-haul summer routes, with popular returning flights and some brand new markets that industry insiders are watching closely.
According to aviation analytics from OAG, Canada’s flag carrier will average 68 long haul flights on 80 routes in June. The bulk of them fly out of its hubs at Montreal-Trudeau (YUL) and Toronto Pearson (YYZ).
Starting in June, passengers from Montreal will be able to fly direct on Air Canada to Nantes. It’s the first time Air Canada will fly to the historic city on the Loire River. The route is also served by Air Transat.
Two routes that begin in June are not only new for Canada, according to Simple Flying, they are entirely new routes for Canada. They both fly from Montreal: to Palma de Mallorca in Spain, and Catania, Sicily.
Air Canada also has some new things cooking in Toronto. Starting next month, passengers will be able to fly direct to Shanghai Pudong, which resumes the service that fell victim to pandemic cancellations in 2020. Budapest is also on the list of returning destinations, which was previously serviced by Air Canada Rouge. The third new flight to look for this June (although not technically considered “long-haul”) is to Ponta Delgado, in the Azores of Portugal. This route may be a competitive one, as it is also served by Azores Airlines. WestJet will also begin operating the same route starting midmonth.
The last new route of note is from the East Coast and the growing gateway at Halifax Stanfield (YHZ). Halifax-Brussels has not historically been a densely crowded route, with only 3,500 round-trip passengers flying last year. However, like the recently launched Halifax to Madrid route on WestJet, it is expected that many passengers will transit through from other points of departure.
Related: New Trans-Atlantic Summer Routes for WestJet and Transat
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