13 New Routes In Just 2 Days: These Long-Haul Flights Take Off Next Year

On November 18 and 19, Iberia, JetBlue, LATAM, and WestJet collectively announced 13 new transatlantic routes between the Americas and Europe. JetBlue’s additions comprise Boston to both Milan and Barcelona, which will become the carrier’s new first- and second-longest markets.

In a sign of the times, 11 of the 13 routes are on narrowbody aircraft. WestJet is primarily responsible. All eight of its additional routes are on the Boeing 737 MAX 8. This includes its two new links to Iceland, which are from Edmonton and Winnipeg. It’ll be the first time the carrier has had long-haul flights from both Canadian cities in seven years.

These 13 Transatlantic Routes Were Announced In 2 Days

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JetBlue has added two new European routes. The carrier will begin flying from Boston to Barcelona and Milan. Naturally, all flights will be on the low-capacity, high-premium, 138-seat Airbus A321LR. JetBlue currently plans 14 European routes next year: five from New York JFK and nine from Boston.

At 3,166 nautical miles (5,863 km), JFK-Amsterdam was JetBlue’s longest service. However, the two new links smash that distance. At 3,310 nautical miles (6,130 km), Milan becomes JetBlue’s longest-ever service, while Barcelona, at 3,172 nautical miles (5,875 km), is now second. They’re likely to be blocked at around nine hours back to the US.

Delta Air Lines only began flights from Boston to Barcelona and Milan in 2025, so JetBlue’s entry is inevitably retaliatory. They are fighting it out at the Massachusetts airport. Until this year, Boston-Milan had been unserved for 17 years. Now it’ll have two operators.

Meanwhile, JetBlue will also compete against Level to Barcelona, with flights to the ever-popular Spanish city having three airlines for the first time. While JetBlue will focus on the local market, it will also benefit from strong connectivity over Boston, its second-busiest airport.

Iberia Returns To Canada After 30 Years

Credit: Iberia

On 13 June, Iberia will take off from its Madrid hub to Toronto, with a five-weekly A321XLR operation. Spain’s flag carrier last flew to Toronto in the mid-1990s. It will join Air Canada on the city pair (daily A330-300/787-9 next summer), becoming the first time the market has had two carriers since Air Transat pulled out in 2015.

At up to nine hours, it will be Iberia’s second-longest XLR flight next summer, only marginally behind Madrid to Washington Dulles (up to 9h 10m). By way of comparison, I flew Icelandair on its new Keflavik to Miami service earlier this month, with Flightradar24 showing the A321LR-operated flight took 8h 13m. While subjective, I found it perfectly fine (I’m also 6′), with the benefit of being very quick to board/exit the aircraft.

The local Madrid-Toronto market is not large. According to booking data, it had approximately 66,000 round-trip point-to-point passengers in the 12 months to September 2025 (181 passengers daily). However, it is the largest market between the Spanish capital and Canada. But it is only the fourth most-trafficked market between the two countries, after Toronto-Barcelona, Montreal-Barcelona, and even Montreal-Malaga. Naturally, Iberia will capture traffic flying across Europe and North Africa.

Due to a higher degree of premium traffic, Madrid-Toronto is higher-yielding than those other, larger markets. Booking data indicates that its average fare is about a quarter higher than Barcelona-Toronto. And as it will cover 6% less distance, it’ll also be less expensive to operate.

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WestJet’s 2 New Weekly Flights To Iceland

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The Canadian carrier’s Iceland debut was in 2024, when it launched the first-ever service from Calgary—its primary hub—to Keflavik. Until now, that has been its sole route to Iceland. However, it’ll begin a weekly operation from Edmonton and Winnipeg next summer. Icelandair served Edmonton between 2014 and 2020, while Iceland Express flew to Winnipeg in 2010 and 2011.

WestJet will now have three routes to Keflavik. In the peak summer, it’ll run daily from Calgary and weekly from Edmonton and Winnipeg. The capital of Manitoba will regain long-haul flights after a seven-year absence, while Edmonton’s European offering will double, with WestJet to Keflavik joining KLM from Amsterdam. Edmonton last had two long-haul routes in 2024, when Condor last flew from Frankfurt.