Air Transat Expands A321LR Network With Senegal, Iceland Routes

Air Transat has confirmed two more summer routes from Montreal in 2026, adding points in Senegal and Iceland to its network as the carrier expands into underserved transatlantic niches.

The Montreal-Dakar service, launching June 17, will become the only nonstop link between Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa. Flights on the 3,897-mi. (3,386-nm) route will operate twice a week through Oct. 21 using Airbus A321LR aircraft.

“This new flight between Montreal and Dakar responds to a strong connection: that of the Senegalese diaspora in Quebec and travelers eager to discover Senegal’s rich culture,” says Transat Chief Revenue Officer Sebastian Ponce. “By offering this nonstop route, we are making travel easier for those who, until now, had to take long layovers in Europe.”

Although Montreal has year-round service to North Africa—Algiers, Casablanca, Marrakech and Tunis—there are currently no nonstop routes linking Canada with West Africa, despite a total Canada-West Africa market of 346,000 passengers in 2024.

Montreal-Dakar alone generated 27,000 two-way passengers last year, according to Sabre Market Intelligence data, making it the third-largest Canada-West Africa city pair. In the absence of nonstop flights, Casablanca, Paris and Lisbon were the top one-stop markets.

Canada’s Senegalese community has expanded steadily, with about 10,000 people of Senegalese origin counted in the 2021 census and more than 4,000 Senegalese students enrolled in Canada as of late 2023. Other French-speaking West African diasporas are also sizable, including those from Ivory Coast (18,800), Cameroon (18,500) and Guinea (6,500).

Additionally, Air Transat is broadening its European summer network with new Montreal-Reykjavik flights, operating twice a week from June 16 to Sept. 27. This route will also use A321LRs, which have enabled the carrier to profitably serve long-range markets too thin for widebodies.

The Iceland market has seen volatility in recent years. Icelandair withdrew from Montreal in 2022 and Wow Air collapsed in 2019, leaving Air Canada as the sole operator. However, Sabre data shows that Montreal-Reykjavik O&D traffic reached 11,500 passengers in 2024, up 32% year on year.

Alongside the new Dakar and Reykjavik routes, Air Transat has previously confirmed the launch of a Montreal-Agadir service next summer, while frequencies between Montreal and Valencia, a route launched in June 2025, will grow to 2X-weekly next summer. Other network additions planned for summer 2026 include a weekly Quebec City-Marseille service and a 3X-weekly Ottawa-London Gatwick route.