Air Canada has removed its Montreal–Algiers service from its schedule systems for both summer 2026 and summer 2027, ending the Canadian flag carrier's only nonstop link to Algeria. That leaves Air Algérie, the government-owned national airline, as the sole operator of a direct flight between the two French-speaking cities.
The cancellation is part of a wider network trim affecting roughly 1% of Air Canada's annual seat capacity. In an April statement, the airline said jet fuel prices had doubled since the start of the US–Iran conflict, making low-margin routes unsustainable. Other casualties include Toronto–Yellowknife, Vancouver–Fort McMurray, Toronto and Montreal flights to New York JFK (seasonal), Toronto–Salt Lake City, and the planned Montreal–Guadalajara route.
What's striking is that Air Canada initially only suspended Algiers for summer 2026, with a planned four-times-weekly return on June 2, 2027. Extending the cut through 2027 suggests something deeper than a temporary fuel spike — the route, launched in 2017, may simply never have been profitable enough. It now stands as the only route on the suspension list without a return date.
The demand case was always solid: Canada's 2021 census counted around 73,000 people of Algerian descent in the Montreal area — the largest Algerian diaspora outside Europe, and more than the estimated number of Algerian Americans in the entire US. Add roughly $1 billion in annual Canada–Algeria trade and a steady flow of business travellers, and it's easy to see why Air Algérie is doubling down.
Air Algérie flies the route year-round, four times weekly, using Airbus A330s — its only widebody type and its sole transatlantic service. It faces indirect competition from Air France, which connects the cities via Paris and at times has held up to 40% of the market. Meanwhile the Algerian carrier is also trimming elsewhere: it moved its London flights from Heathrow to Stansted in late March and is investing in regional growth, with 16 ATR 72-600s on order for its domestic subsidiary plus 10 A330neos and additional 737 MAX 9s for the mainline fleet.
For travellers, Air Canada's Montreal–Casablanca service survives as the airline's last direct Africa route — a three-times-weekly A330 flight it has run since 2016. But anyone needing to reach Algiers nonstop from North America now has exactly one option, and it's worth booking early in peak summer, when diaspora family travel drives demand. Connecting via Paris or another European hub remains the fallback if Air Algérie's fares climb.
