Air Canada has announced a massive capacity boost coming to its network in the Summer of 2024. This capacity boost includes two brand-new destinations, five new routes, and increased flight frequencies. Let's look at new destinations and routes on the cards for Air Canada for this upcoming summer season.

The Rise of Tulum

Air Canada will become the first Canadian airline to announce service to Mexico's newest airport: Tulum. Tulum's new international airport officially opened on December 1, 2023, and currently serves domestic flights. However, Tulum International Airport (TQO) has been formally approved for international flights. As such, the airport will receive many new international services from March through May 2024.

As Mexico is a popular tourist and vacation destination for Americans and Canadians, all of these new international services will be from North American airlines. Air Canada, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, JetBlue, and Spirit Airlines have all announced new services to Tulum. Air Canada will serve Tulum from its Montréal-Trudeau (YUL) and Toronto-Pearson (YYZ) hubs. 

Service from Toronto begins on May 3, 2024, while Montréal service will be inaugurated the following day. Toronto-Tulum will operate twice weekly on Fridays and Saturdays with the Airbus A321. Montréal - Tulum will operate on Saturdays only with an A321 as well. Unlike the Toronto flight, Air Canada's website lists the Montréal route as being operated by Rouge, Air Canada's low-cost and leisure subsidiary.

Tulum's new airport will facilitate travel to the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula and Riviera Maya. Previously, Cancún's International Airport served the brunt of travelers to this region in addition to Cozumel International Airport. However, congestion in Cancún necessitated the construction of Tulum's new airport.

Increased U.S. Network

Air Canada's second new destination is Charleston, South Carolina (CHS). Service from Toronto (YYZ) begins on March 28 and will run daily with Air Canada Express Embraer 175s. This is the third instance that Charleston will hold nonstop service to Canada and Toronto in particular.

Air Canada briefly served the Toronto - Charleston route in 2001 but cut the route shortly after the events of September 11. Porter Airlines operated a short-lived service between Toronto-Billy Bishop (YTZ) and Charleston in 2015.

The new Air Canada service will be Charleston's only existing international route. The airport most recently had British Airways 787 service to London Heathrow (LHR), but the route never resumed after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Air Canada will add additional flights to its existing U.S. destinations of Austin, Texas (AUS) and St. Louis, Missouri (STL). Both cities are currently served by the airline from Toronto. Starting in May, Austin and St. Louis will also receive Air Canada flights from its Montréal hub. Daily service from Montréal to St. Louis begins on May 1 with the CRJ-900. The next day, May 2, a four-weekly service from Montréal to Austin will start with the Airbus A220-300.

The Montréal-Austin route will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The aircraft will remain overnight in Austin before operating the return leg the following morning. This means the Austin - Montréal route will be served on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

Boosted Frequencies

The Summer of 2024 will also see increased frequencies on a wide range of current Air Canada routes. Certain seasonal routes from Air Canada hubs across Canada will resume earlier in the year. These routes include flights to the United States and domestic flights within Canada.

In the summer of 2024, Air Canada will serve 120 destinations across Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean. These destinations will account for up to 520 daily flights with around 66,000 seats. That's a roughly 5% increase in Air Canada's North American and Caribbean seat capacity from summer 2023.

This new announcement from Air Canada shows that travel continues to be in full swing. It also shows that demand for travel during the summer will continue to be a market that airlines will flock to serve.