Tempting? Air Transat Begins New 11-Hour Flights

On December 16, Air Transat took off from Toronto to Istanbul. It is the Canadian leisure carrier’s new longest route by distance and time. However, that’ll change in 2026, when its Accra flights begin.

The launch of Istanbul flights made history in other ways. For example, it is the first time a Canadian airline has served Turkey since 2017, when Air Canada pulled out. In fact, Air Transat is now the only North American airline in the country.

Air Transat Arrives In Turkey In Time For Christmas

Winter is quite an unusual time to begin flying to Istanbul Airport, as it’s cold and can often snow or rain. As such, inbound tourism falls dramatically. Air Transat serves the enormous city twice a week year-round on the Airbus A330-200. According to Flightradar24, the first round-trip service deployed C-GTSR, a 17.1-year-old, 345-seat frame.

This is, in fact, the second time that Air Transat has served Istanbul. According to Cirium Diio data, it flew to the Atatürk (Istanbul’s old airport) between 2011 and 2014. In the first two years, it operated Toronto-Montreal-Istanbul and vice versa, but in the last two years, the Toronto extension was eliminated. This time, passengers can connect in Toronto with partner Porter, and in Istanbul with partner Turkish Airlines.

It is a good-sized market. In the 12 months to October 2025, approximately 130,000 round-trip passengers flew between Toronto and Istanbul, influenced by tourism—Canadians have visa-free access—and the Turkish diaspora. However, it was relatively underserved, as many people connected to another flight en route rather than flying nonstop with Turkish Airlines.

It Serves Istanbul Because Of Its Partnership With Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines is increasingly keen to partner with other carriers, and not just those within Star Alliance. This is particularly the case for markets with limited traffic rights, and where Turkish Airlines would like to expand its presence but can’t, whether entirely or to the extent that it seeks. Air Transat is a vehicle in this process, just as IndiGo is from India to Turkey.

Other operators take this approach, too. For example, Qatar Airways is leasing Boeing 777-300ERs to Virgin Australia to fly to Doha on its behalf, as it would not otherwise be able to grow its Australian presence. Virgin now has four routes to Qatar. Then there’s Emirates and United Airlines, Emirates and Air Canada, and many others.

Turkish Airlines has served Canada since 2009, many years after it took off for the United States. Yet, minimal access to Canada means it still has relatively few flights. Even next summer, it’ll only serve Toronto six times a week (777-300ER), Montreal three times a week (A350-900), and Vancouver three times weekly (777-300ER).

Air Transat will partly be used to plug the capacity gap. It’ll use the unused Canadian half of the traffic rights between the two countries. Critically, passengers will be able to connect to Turkish Airlines’ destinations, without which the route would probably not begin. This is why Air Transat has a very similar schedule to Turkish Airlines’ Toronto offering.

Turkish Airlines To Toronto

The Star member has flown to Canada’s most populous city and busiest airport for 16 years. Obviously, most of Turkish Airlines’ Toronto passengers connect to another flight in Istanbul. Booking data suggests the most popular country market was Toronto-Iran, followed by wider Turkey, Pakistan, India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Russia (as Turkey does not have sanctions), Afghanistan, Lebanon, and the UAE.

At the city level, Toronto-Tehran was very much the top segment. Mumbai was next, followed by Delhi, Karachi, Ankara, Erbil, Kabul, Beirut, Lahore, and Moscow. A substantial number of Iranians and Iranian Canadians live in Greater Toronto. The lack of options influences Turkish Airlines’ critical role, with only Emirates carrying more passengers to/from Tehran.