Air Canada has unveiled an expanded Winter 2026-27 schedule aimed squarely at European travellers chasing winter sun, with new services to Rio de Janeiro, Cartagena, Guatemala City and Costa Rica joining the network.
The additions build on what the airline says is the largest Latin America offering of any Canadian carrier — more than 60 destinations across the region. The practical appeal for Europeans is the routing: rather than long one-stop itineraries through US hubs, passengers connect via Toronto or Montreal, which the airline pitches as a smoother, more seamless path south.
It is not just Latin America on the menu. The winter schedule also funnels European passengers through the same Canadian hubs to big Caribbean and Mexican beach names — Punta Cana, Cancun and Nassau among them — so a straight beach holiday is just as easy as a city-and-ruins trip. Air Canada's sales chief for EMEAI, Margaret Skinner, highlighted another angle: the network makes twin-centre trips straightforward, letting travellers combine two destinations in one booking — think Cartagena's old town paired with a Costa Rican beach, or Rio plus a Caribbean island.
The routes will be flown with a range of aircraft and cabin options, including Signature Class, Premium Economy and Economy, depending on the route. Frequent flyers can bank the trips with Aeroplan, the airline's loyalty programme, which allows points to be earned and redeemed across its network and partner airlines, with the option to combine points and cash on a single booking.
There is one more quirk worth knowing if your plans stretch north of the Caribbean. Travellers connecting through Canada to the United States benefit from US customs and immigration preclearance at all Canadian hubs — you clear American formalities before departure and land in the US as a domestic passenger, which can shave significant time off arrival.
For travellers, the takeaway is simple: if a Southern Hemisphere-style summer escape is on the cards for the 2026-27 winter, options from Europe via Canada are widening, with new entry points into Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Costa Rica alongside the established beach routes. Route-by-route details and timings sit on Air Canada's website, and given how quickly peak winter dates sell out on sun routes, it is worth checking schedules early if you have specific dates in mind.
Story via Breaking Travel News.
