Air Transat has revealed two new routes. Next summer, it will take off from Montreal to both Dakar (on the Airbus A321LR) and Keflavik (on the A321ceo). Focused on the Francophone market, it appears to be the first time the Senegalese capital has had flights to Canada. However, the Canadian leisure carrier will face Air Canada on the route to Iceland, with that market seeing big changes in the past few years.
Air Transat has added other routes recently. For example, in early October, it announced service from Ottawa to London Gatwick and Quebec City to Marseille, followed by Montreal to Agadir later that month. They’ll all use the A321LR. Elsewhere, it also recently added flights from Montreal to Rio de Janeiro, albeit on the A330-200.
Air Transat From Montreal To Senegal
This brand-new market will cover 3,388 nautical miles (6,275 km) each way. Starting on June 17, Air Transat will serve it twice-weekly on the 199-seat A321LR. According to ch-aviation, it has 19 such frames, although not all of them are active. They have 12 seats in Club Class (2-2; effectively premium economy) and 187 seats in economy (3-3).
Booking data shows that the city pair had 27,000 round-trip passengers in the 12 months to August 2025, making it Senegal’s third-largest unserved market globally. This was without any nonstop flights. It was Dakar’s second-largest North American market for point-to-point traffic, after New York JFK (45,000), which Delta serves.
Montreal’s average fare—across all airlines, passengers, and cabins—was a healthy $905 each way (including a fuel surcharge). While Air Transat’s new offering will cover 2% more distance than Delta to JFK, the average fare was 13% higher. No wonder Air Transat was keen.
While Montreal to Dakar is a substantially smaller market than Montreal-Tunis (97,000 passengers; served by Tunisair), Casablanca (161,000; served by Air Canada and Royal Air Maroc), and Algiers (199,000; served by Air Algerie and Air Canada), it had by far the highest fare. It seems a logical addition, particularly with a low-frequency operation.
|
Days |
Montreal To Dakar; Local Times |
Days |
Dakar To Montreal; Local Times |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Wednesdays, Saturdays |
19:15-07:25+1 (8h 10m) |
Thursdays, Sundays |
08:55-13:40 (8h 45m) |
Air Transat From Montreal To Iceland
Air Transat will take off from Montreal to Keflavik on June 16. It will mark the airline’s debut in Iceland. At just 2,018 nautical miles (3,737 km) each way, it will become by far Air Transat’s shortest ever European service. It will cover 27% less distance than Montreal to Porto, which was down to be number one next year.
Air Transat will serve Keflavik twice-weekly on the A321-200, not the A321LR. It is unclear whether the 198-seat or 220-seat configuration will be deployed. Regardless, no seat-back entertainment will be available. Flights will depart from Canada at 23:25 and arrive in Iceland at 09:00+1 local time (5h 35m). Returning, they’ll leave at 10:30 and get back at 11:55 local time (5h 25m). Notice that its flights back to Canada will have a shorter block than those to Iceland. For headwind reasons, the reverse is usually the case.
As with Dakar, Air Transat will also capture passengers flying across Canada and to/from certain US cities. That’s just as well, as the local Montreal market is small—just 14,000 round-trip passengers in the 12 months to August. That is despite 
Air Canada’s nonstop offering on the Boeing 737 MAX 8, with mainly five flights a week.
Air Transat will be the fourth airline to attempt Montreal-Keflavik flights. The defunct WOW Air operated between 2016 and 2019, followed by Icelandair between 2016 and 2020 (and briefly in 2022). At times, three airlines—Air Canada, Icelandair, WOW Air—served the market (!).
Montreal To Dakar Becomes Air Transat’s 2nd Longest A321LR Service By Time
Air Transat’s new African route has a maximum block time of up to 8h 45m. This means it has become the carrier’s new second-longest narrowbody operation by time, behind Berlin back to Toronto (up to 8h 50m). The new Dakar service has surpassed Nice back to Montreal (up to 8h 40m).
Schedule analysis for January-October 2026 shows that Air Transat has multiple routes with a max block of 8h to 8h 35m. Of course, all of them are back to Canada, with headwinds. They are Marseille-Montreal (8h 35m), Lisbon-Toronto (8h 35m), Barcelona-Montreal (8h 30m), Faro-Toronto (8h 30m), Paris CDG-Toronto (8h 25m), London Gatwick-Toronto (8h 20m), Faro-Toronto (8h 20m), Basel-Montreal (8h 15m), Porto-Toronto (8h 15m), Valencia-Montreal (8h 15m), Malaga-Montreal (8h 10m), Amsterdam-Toronto (8h 15m), Lyon-Montreal (8h 15m), Toulouse-Montreal (8h), Manchester-Toronto (8h), and Lisbon-Toronto (8h).
