en.Wedoany.com Reported - Air Transat has officially launched a direct flight from Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) to Tirana International Airport (TIA) ahead of the 2026 summer peak season. This marks the first scheduled route from Canada to Albania and the longest direct flight in TIA's history. The route operates once a week using a 332-seat Airbus A330-200, departing from YYZ on Thursdays and returning from TIA on Fridays. A total of 17 round trips are planned for the season, with the final flight scheduled to depart from TIA on October 9.
The launch of the new route is part of Air Transat's expansion plan. According to flight schedules, the airline averages 28 flights per day in July and August, a historic high. Since May, Air Transat has launched or resumed several transatlantic routes, including Montreal to Agadir, Dakar, and Keflavik; Ottawa to London Gatwick; and Quebec City to Marseille and Nantes. This summer, the airline also operates three transatlantic routes with only one weekly flight: Montreal to Agadir, Quebec City to Marseille and Nantes, and YYZ to Lamezia Terme and TIA. The originally planned route from YYZ to Accra was canceled earlier this year.
Air Transat's YYZ-TIA route was launched amid high demand. Booking data shows that between May 2025 and April 2026, round-trip passenger traffic between North America and TIA reached 315,000, with the YYZ market contributing 34,000 passengers, making it the second-largest market in North America after the Greater New York area (137,000 passengers). Since there were no direct flights previously, passengers had to transit via airlines such as Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, or British Airways. To further expand its customer base, Air Transat has partnered with Porter Airlines to attract passengers connecting through YYZ to other destinations.
Fare data reflects the visiting friends and relatives (VFR) nature of this market. Excluding taxes, fees, and fuel surcharges, the average base fare for YYZ-TIA is just $313, equivalent to 7.2 cents per nautical mile. In comparison, the YYZ-Madrid route has a fare of $465, or 14.2 cents per nautical mile. While demand is sufficient, low fares pose a challenge to yield. The launch of the new route is supported by incentives and other risk-sharing agreements.
Air Transat's YYZ-TIA route is not the only new addition to the Central and Eastern European market recently. On May 23, Air Serbia launched a Belgrade-YYZ route, operating twice a week with an A330-200, resuming service 34 years after JAT Yugoslav Airlines ceased operations. On June 5, Air Canada launched a YYZ-Budapest route, operated under its main brand. In the 12 months ending April 2026, the YYZ-Belgrade route had 48,000 round-trip passengers, YYZ-TIA had 34,000, and YYZ-Budapest had 32,000. Bucharest is currently the largest unserved destination from YYZ in Central and Eastern Europe, with 24,000 passengers and an average base fare 55% higher than TIA; this route was previously operated by Air Canada Rouge in 2018/2019.
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