Canada’s leading leisure carrier is rewriting the rules of winter sun and city breaks, unveiling a bold new network that pulls Brazil, Turkey, Mexico, Spain, France, Martinique, the Dominican Republic and more into a single, tightly coordinated travel web. With new nonstop routes to Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Madrid, Bordeaux, Cancún and a clutch of Caribbean and Latin American hot spots, Air Transat’s 2025–2026 program marks one of the most ambitious expansions in its history and signals a clear bet on Canadians’ hunger for more diverse, nonstop international travel.
A New Era: Brazil and Turkey Join the Air Transat Map
The marquee news in Air Transat’s latest announcement is its first ever foray into Brazil, with nonstop flights to Rio de Janeiro from both Toronto and Montreal. Beginning in early February 2026, the carrier will operate twice weekly between Toronto Pearson and Rio’s Galeão International Airport and once weekly from Montreal, giving Canadian travelers their first leisure-focused, direct link with Brazil’s most iconic coastal city on a Canadian airline.
These services will be flown by widebody Airbus A330 aircraft and are timed for the peak of the Southern Hemisphere summer, when Rio’s beaches, Carnival energy and cultural festivals draw visitors from around the world. By positioning itself as the only carrier offering nonstop Montreal–Rio flights, Air Transat is targeting both vacationers and members of the Brazilian diaspora who have long relied on European connections to reach home.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Toronto is also getting a direct link to Istanbul, one of the world’s most compelling crossroads cities. From December 2025, Air Transat will operate twice weekly Toronto–Istanbul flights in partnership with Turkish Airlines, opening up not only the Turkish metropolis but also smooth onward connections through Istanbul’s vast network into the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Spain and France: Winter Sun Meets Year-Round City Breaks
While Brazil and Turkey bring headline novelty, the expansion in Spain and France is where Air Transat’s long-term strategy comes into sharp focus. Montreal will gain new winter-season nonstops to Madrid, Bordeaux and Valencia starting in February 2026, turning classic summer city-break destinations into appealing off-season gateways.
The extended Montreal–Madrid service, previously a summer operation, will now stretch into the winter months, matching growing demand from Canadians who want culture, food and history along with mild weather rather than just beach time. Valencia, a rising Mediterranean favorite, is joining the winter roster after proving its popularity in the summer schedule, while Bordeaux brings the wine country dream firmly within nonstop reach of Quebec travelers.
In France, Air Transat is layering these new routes on top of an already dense historical presence. Bordeaux and Valencia will operate once weekly at the peak of the 2025–2026 winter season, supplementing the airline’s strong Paris offering. This strategic tilt toward secondary European cities speaks to a broader trend: experienced travelers are asking for more than capitals, and airlines are starting to respond.
Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America: Deepening the Southern Network
Southbound, Air Transat is pushing beyond its traditional Mexican and Caribbean strongholds with a combination of new destinations and fresh Canadian gateways. Mexico sees a high-profile addition in Guadalajara, served twice weekly from Montreal from December 2025. The route taps into both a vibrant cultural city and a powerful Mexican-Canadian community link, giving travelers an alternative to the well-trodden resort corridors.
Cancún, already one of Canada’s perennial winter favorites, is being pushed closer to home for travelers in Atlantic Canada. Charlottetown and Fredericton will each get a weekly nonstop to the Yucatán resort town starting in February 2026, bringing beach holidays within a short hop for travelers who previously needed to trek to Montreal or Toronto to start their sun vacations.
Farther south, Toronto’s winter schedule adds Georgetown in Guyana and Medellín in Colombia, the latter via Cartagena. Both routes, operated twice weekly, signal a growing appetite among Canadians for more adventurous itineraries into South America. Medellín’s transformation into a creative, culinary and digital hub and Cartagena’s UNESCO-listed old town provide a compelling twin-center itinerary, while Georgetown opens a relatively untapped corner of the continent rich in rainforest and coastal experiences.
French Antilles and Dominican Republic: New Gateways for Eastern Canada
Among the most striking moves in the new program is the way Air Transat is using smaller Canadian cities as springboards into the Caribbean and French Antilles. Quebec City, Charlottetown, Fredericton and Windsor are no longer just feeder markets to Montreal and Toronto; they are becoming true international gateways in their own right.
From December 2025, Quebec City will host a weekly nonstop to Fort-de-France in Martinique, the first direct connection from the region to the Lesser Antilles. That service will be extended into summer 2026, evolving into a year-round link that cements Air Transat’s leadership in the French Caribbean. A second French Antilles route, between Quebec City and Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, is set to launch in February 2026, further knitting together Quebec’s francophone travelers with France’s overseas departments.
In the Dominican Republic, Windsor will see its first nonstop winter sun route, with a weekly service to Punta Cana kicking off in December 2025. The move brings a direct Caribbean vacation option to southwestern Ontario travelers who have historically had to drive to Toronto or Detroit to fly south. Punta Cana’s broad range of resorts, from family-focused to adults-only luxury, makes it an obvious first choice for a new leisure connection.
Strategic Diversification: Beyond Traditional Sun Routes
Air Transat’s upcoming winter 2025–2026 schedule features a total of 14 new routes from its Canadian bases, combining entirely new destinations with the seasonal extension of existing transatlantic services. The common thread is diversification. The airline is moving beyond staple sun corridors such as Cancún and Punta Cana into new geographies in South America, the Eastern Mediterranean and secondary European markets.
By targeting cities like Rio de Janeiro, Guadalajara, Valencia and Bordeaux, the carrier is betting on Canadian travelers’ growing appetite for experiences that blend culture, cuisine and outdoor adventures. These destinations offer warm climates in winter, but they are not limited to resort strips, which positions Air Transat to capture a broader slice of the leisure and visiting-friends-and-relatives market.
This strategy is underpinned by a fleet built for flexibility. The airline’s mix of Airbus A330 widebodies and A321LR long-range narrowbodies allows it to match capacity to demand and operate efficiently on both trunk and thinner routes. Long, sea-crossing flights such as Toronto–Rio or Montreal–Valencia can be flown profitably even at modest weekly frequencies, which keeps the network dense while controlling risk.
Connectivity, Partnerships and the Porter Effect
The new routes are not stand-alone experiments. They are stitched into a larger connectivity fabric that includes domestic and regional feeder flights operated in partnership with Porter Airlines, as well as codeshare and interline agreements with European and international carriers. For travelers in cities that do not yet have their own nonstop flights to Rio, Istanbul or Madrid, this web of connections makes the new destinations far more accessible.
Porter’s growing presence in eastern Canada is particularly important. Its network brings passengers from mid-sized markets into Montreal and Toronto, where they can connect onto Air Transat’s long-haul services in a single itinerary. This allows the leisure carrier to behave more like a full-service network airline, offering through-checked bags and coordinated schedules while retaining its vacation-focused brand and pricing.
On the transatlantic side, partnerships with European airlines play a similar role, turning Montreal and Toronto into efficient gateways to onward points in Spain and beyond. Travelers landing in Madrid or Valencia on Air Transat can connect deeper into the Iberian Peninsula, while those arriving in Istanbul gain access to one of the world’s largest global networks through Turkish Airlines.
What It Means for Canadian Travelers
For travelers in Canada and the northern United States, Air Transat’s latest expansion rewires the mental map of what is possible for a winter escape. Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Bordeaux or Medellín no longer require a long detour through a European or U.S. mega-hub. Instead, they become destinations that can be reached non-stop or with a single, well-timed connection within Canada.
For residents of Quebec City, Charlottetown, Fredericton and Windsor, the shift is even more profound. The era of having to connect through Montreal, Toronto or even U.S. hubs for every international trip is gradually giving way to one in which a Caribbean or French Antilles holiday can begin at the local airport. That change not only adds convenience but can reduce overall journey times and make spur-of-the-moment travel more realistic.
The broader implication is that leisure flying from Canada is moving closer to a European-style model, where smaller regional airports can sustain direct flights to sun and city destinations during peak seasons. Air Transat’s willingness to test these routes, backed by its adaptable fleet and partner network, positions it at the forefront of that shift.
Looking Ahead: A Bolder, More Global Winter
With its winter 2025–2026 schedule, Air Transat is signaling the shape of things to come. The airline has already followed up its winter expansion with announcements for summer 2026 that include new routes from Montreal to Dakar in Senegal and Reykjavik in Iceland, as well as additional transatlantic services from Quebec City and Ottawa. Taken together, these moves underline a clear intention to grow beyond the classic Canada–Caribbean and Canada–Western Europe blueprint.
For now, the headline is simple and compelling: Brazil has joined Turkey, Mexico, Spain, France, Martinique, the Dominican Republic and a host of other destinations in a newly energized, highly diversified network. From Rio de Janeiro’s beaches to Istanbul’s bazaars, from Bordeaux’s vineyards to Cancún’s resorts and Martinique’s volcanic landscapes, Air Transat is offering Canadians more nonstop choices than ever for the winter seasons ahead.
As bookings open and the first departures approach, travelers seeking something beyond the usual sun-and-sand week in January will have a fresh set of options to consider. The airline’s bet is that a growing share of them will choose a Carnival parade in Rio, a tapas crawl in Madrid, a wine tour in Bordeaux or a cultural deep dive in Medellín instead. If that wager pays off, this bold new network could mark the beginning of a lasting travel revolution in the Canadian skies.