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Air Canada plays a critical role in the country's long-haul activity. In 2026, OAG data shows that the Star Alliance member has an average of 54 such departures each day. This hides huge variation, from as few as 32 departures in the depths of winter, to as many as 71 in the height of summer.
More long-haul routes will be announced this week. However, Air Canada, like all carriers, experiences route churn. Despite financial incentives or other risk-sharing agreements, not everything will work. They are not expected to. It is just hoped that the number of routes cut is smaller than the number added.
In the past ten years, Canada's flag carrier and largest operator has ceased flying to** nine airports in Europe**. Several of them were previously served by Air Canada Rouge, which is Air Canada's lower-cost unit. It is, of course, deployed to lower-yielding destinations, which revolve around leisure or visiting friends and relatives (VFR) traffic, for which the lower-cost platform is more appropriate.
The role of Rouge, in particular, meant that the Boeing 767-300ER was primarily deployed to the following destinations. However, Istanbul and Warsaw also saw mainline 767s, while the 787-8 (shown above) was also flown to Turkey and the 737 MAX 8 was exclusively used to Shannon. While ch-aviation shows that Air Canada still has the 767, all remaining frames carry freight.
| End Year (Between 2016 & 2026 Only*) | From Canada To...** | Served From | Mainline Or Rouge?*** | |---|---|---|---| | 2017 | Istanbul | Mainline. Air Canada has suggested that it may return to Turkey (Air Transat has since begun flying to Istanbul, with a second link, from Montreal, starting soon) | | | 2017 | London Gatwick | YYZ and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) | Rouge | | 2018 | Shannon | YYZ | Mainline | | 2019 | Bordeaux | Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL) | Rouge | | 2019 | Bucharest | YUL and YYZ | Rouge | | 2019 | Glasgow | YYZ | Rouge | | 2019 | Marseille | YUL | Rouge. Air Canada has suggested that it may return to Marseille (United Airlines will start flying from Newark to Marseille in 2027) | | 2019 | Warsaw | YYZ | Mainly Rouge, but mainline in 2018 | | 2019 | Zagreb | YYZ | Rouge | | * If no year is stated, no cuts were made | ** Excl. Berlin Tegel, which has closed. Air Canada began flying to Berlin Brandenburg in 2026 | *** Based on 2016 onwards only |
Schedule analysis of Air Canada's long-haul network **since 2016 **shows that the carrier has ceased flying to Algiers (last flown in 2025; from YUL), Cairo (last flown in 2023; from YUL), Melbourne Airport (MEL; 2020; from YVR), Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (2026; from YYZ), Nagoya (2018; from YVR), and Taipei (2020; from YVR).
The airline had planned to return to Algeria in 2027, but this idea has been shelved. Given the very low-yield environment, perhaps this is a sensible decision. Leave the VFR-driven market to Air Algérie. The exit from BOM, which had been flown on a fifth freedom basis via London Heathrow Airport (LHR), has given rise to the entry of Air India. Air Canada will may reintroduce nonstop flights to BOM when the carrier can overfly Russia.
Air Canada flew to MEL between 2017 and 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced flights to stop. Four weekly flights on the 787-9 were usually available. Earlier in 2026, Air Canada disclosed that flights from YVR to MEL may return. However, subsequent discussions suggest that this may not happen until the airline's Airbus A350-1000s begin to be delivered, and that won't be for several years yet.
In the past decade, only Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH) has ceased seeing Canada's flag carrier in the Middle East. The flights from YYZ, which primarily used the 787-9, operated between 2020 and 2023. They existed in partnership with codeshare partner Qatar Airways. Unsurprisingly, booking data shows that most of Air Canada's DOH passengers connected in Qatar, with Tehran being the most popular market. Toronto has a very large Iranian population.
Air Canada's primary partner in the Middle East is now Emirates, which is why the Canadian carrier continues to fly between YYZ and Dubai. It previously also did so from YVR (2023-2025). Of course, due to the ongoing war in Iran, YYZ service remains suspended, but it is scheduled to return in January 2027. When that happens, Air Canada will fly to two destinations in the Middle East: Dubai and Tel Aviv.
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