Canadians chasing winter sun no longer need to connect through Europe to reach the Canary Islands. Air Canada has launched the first-ever nonstop link between North America and the Spanish archipelago, flying from Toronto Pearson to Tenerife South aboard its Airbus A321XLR — a near nine-hour overnight hop.
The Toronto service runs twice weekly, departing Thursday and Sunday at 8:35 PM and landing in Tenerife at 9:00 AM the next morning. Returns leave Tenerife late Monday and Friday mornings, touching back in Toronto mid-afternoon. Montreal joined the map a week later, on October 31, with a once-weekly Saturday night departure and a Sunday morning return. Both routes are seasonal, running through the Northern Hemisphere winter with final rotations expected in late April.
What makes this route possible is the aircraft. The A321XLR is a long-range narrowbody, letting airlines serve leisure destinations that couldn't fill a widebody. Air Canada has been taking regular deliveries of the type and has been rolling out new European routes at a steady clip — Tenerife is the latest to go live.
The exclusivity won't last long. Air Transat enters the market in December with weekly nonstops from both Montreal and Toronto to Gran Canaria (Las Palmas), using its Airbus A321neo. Montreal flights start December 12, Toronto on December 13. Gran Canaria becomes the leisure carrier's fifth Spanish destination, joining Madrid, Malaga, Barcelona and Valencia.
For travellers, this opens up a genuinely different kind of winter escape. The Canaries offer reliable warmth and sunshine in the depths of January and February — the kind of weather guarantee that usually means a long-haul Caribbean flight from Canada. Tenerife, the largest of the islands, has a well-developed resort scene including all-inclusive options, plus volcanic landscapes and beaches in the south. Gran Canaria offers a mix of dunes, hiking and resort towns. And with Air Transat in the mix, there's already competition on the route pair, which historically bodes well for fares.
The timing works nicely, too: overnight flights land in the morning, effectively gifting travellers a full first day on the island — and the same trick in reverse on the way home, with afternoon arrivals back in Canada.
