While one Canadian airline spent the spring trimming its map, another was quietly drawing new lines across the Atlantic. Between May and late June 2026, WestJet launched eight new nonstop routes to Europe, the largest transatlantic expansion in the airline’s history. Halifax picked up three European capitals. Toronto gained Scotland, Wales and the Azores. Even Edmonton and Winnipeg got direct flights to Iceland.
The launches are done, the planes are flying, and the fares on several of these routes have been genuinely competitive. This is the story the summer headlines about strikes and pricey domestic tickets mostly buried, and it has real staying power for anyone planning a Europe trip from Canada over the next few years.
What launched, route by route
WestJet announced the expansion in November 2025 and rolled it out across seven weeks this spring. The full list, with start dates:
From Halifax:
- Halifax to Lisbon, from May 1, five flights weekly
- Halifax to Madrid, from May 15, three to four flights weekly
- Halifax to Copenhagen, from May 28, four flights weekly
From Toronto Pearson:
- Toronto to Glasgow, from May 15, four flights weekly
- Toronto to Cardiff, from May 22, four flights weekly
- Toronto to Ponta Delgada in the Azores, from June 12, three to four flights weekly
From the Prairies:
- Edmonton to Reykjavik, from June 26, weekly
- Winnipeg to Reykjavik, from June 27, weekly
Every one of these routes is flown by the Boeing 737 MAX 8, a narrowbody jet. That detail matters, and we will come back to it. Add it all up and WestJet’s transatlantic capacity has grown from roughly 36,000 two-way seats in 2014 to more than 1.3 million in 2026, according to Simple Flying’s analysis of the expansion, which now makes it the second largest narrowbody transatlantic operator in the world after Icelandair.
Why this happened, and why now
Two forces collided to make this expansion possible. The first is the aircraft. The 737 MAX 8 has the range to cross the Atlantic from eastern Canada with a full load, and it can do so profitably with about 174 seats instead of the 300 plus a widebody needs to fill. That opens up city pairs that could never support a big jet, like Halifax to Copenhagen or Toronto to Cardiff.
The second is the competitive gap. Air Canada spent early 2026 cutting thin routes to protect margins as fuel and labour costs climbed, a story we covered in May in our piece on Canada’s shifting flight map. Where a route is dropped or was never served, an efficient narrowbody operator can move in with lower trip costs and own the market. Halifax is the clearest example. Its location makes it the shortest Canadian mainland hop to Europe, shaving more than an hour off flight times versus Toronto, and WestJet has now made it a genuine transatlantic gateway with more European destinations than the airline has ever flown from the city.
For Atlantic Canadians the change is dramatic. A traveller in Halifax previously connected through Toronto or Montreal for almost any European trip. Now Lisbon, Madrid and Copenhagen are nonstop, and each of those cities is itself a hub for cheap onward flights across Europe.
What it means for fares
New capacity is the most reliable downward force on airfares, and it arrived in a summer when Canadians badly needed one. Domestic fares ran hot all season, but transatlantic pricing told a different story. International fares were roughly flat year over year, and on routes where WestJet now overlaps with legacy carriers, launch pricing and ongoing competition have produced round trips to Portugal, Spain and the UK at prices that would have looked like errors two summers ago.
The Iceland routes deserve a special mention. Weekly nonstops from Edmonton and Winnipeg to Reykjavik mean Prairie travellers can reach Europe without first backtracking to Toronto, and Reykjavik connects onward to dozens of European cities. One weekly frequency is thin, so book early, but as a fare benchmark these routes force every carrier pricing Prairie to Europe itineraries to sharpen their pencil.
The evergreen rule underneath all of this: fares fall where airlines overlap and rise where they retreat. The best value in Canadian travel right now sits on the routes where WestJet’s expansion collides head-on with Air Canada, Air Transat and the European carriers. Watch Toronto and Halifax to Portugal, Spain and the British Isles in particular. We flag exactly these kinds of drops on our deals page as they appear, and route pages like our Halifax to Lisbon tracker show you how current pricing compares before you commit.
Before you book a 737 across the Atlantic
A narrowbody transatlantic flight is a different product from a widebody one, and going in with clear eyes will save you disappointment.
The cabin is a 3-3 economy layout with a small premium section, not a lie-flat business class. Flights from Halifax to Lisbon run around six hours, Toronto to Glasgow closer to seven. That is comparable to a Vancouver to Toronto transcon plus an hour, so it is entirely manageable, but pack your own comforts and do not expect a seatback entertainment wall. WestJet streams entertainment to your own device.
Check the bag rules before you click buy. Ultra-competitive launch fares are usually Econo or Basic style fares where checked bags, seat selection and changes all cost extra. Price the total trip, not the sticker.
Frequency is the real trade-off. Three or four weekly flights means a cancellation can leave you waiting a day or two for the next WestJet departure, and weekly Iceland service means a full week. Build connection buffers, avoid booking the last possible flight before a cruise or a wedding, and remember that under the APPR a cancellation within the airline’s control obliges the carrier to rebook you, on another airline if it cannot get you out within 48 hours.
Seasonality is the other catch. These are summer seasonal routes. Most wind down in the fall, so if you are eyeing shoulder-season Europe, confirm the route is still operating for your dates rather than assuming year-round service.
How to play it going forward
Treat this expansion as a structural change, not a one-summer experiment. WestJet has committed publicly to growing its global network through Toronto and Halifax, and narrowbody transatlantic flying is the fastest growing segment of the market worldwide. More routes are likely, and history says the airline will announce next summer’s additions in the late fall.
That gives you a playbook. Watch for the annual route announcements around November, because launch fares on brand-new routes are consistently among the cheapest seats of the following summer. Compare the new nonstops against one-stop alternatives on every trip, since a connection through Lisbon or Reykjavik on the outbound can sometimes beat the nonstop price by enough to matter. And search broadly rather than assuming your home airport’s old routing is still the best option, because the map genuinely changed this year. Running a quick comparison on our flight search across nearby departure cities, Halifax versus Moncton, Toronto versus Hamilton, will show you whether the new competition has reached your route yet.
Canadian aviation gave travellers plenty of bad news this summer. This is the good news story, and unlike a fare sale, it does not expire on Sunday.
FAQ
Are these new WestJet Europe routes year-round? Mostly no. The eight routes launched in May and June 2026 are summer seasonal services, generally operating from late spring into October. WestJet adjusts exact end dates by route each year, so verify the schedule for your specific travel dates before booking shoulder-season trips.
Is a 737 MAX 8 comfortable enough for a transatlantic flight? For flights in the six to seven hour range, most travellers find it fine, comparable to a long domestic transcon. Expect a standard 3-3 economy cabin, streaming entertainment to your own device, and a small extended-comfort section. If you need a lie-flat seat, WestJet’s widebody Dreamliners fly from Calgary, or compare legacy carrier options from Toronto and Montreal.
Will these routes actually make my Europe trip cheaper? On overlapping routes, competition has already kept transatlantic fares roughly flat this year even as domestic fares climbed. The biggest savings show up from Halifax and on Portugal, Spain and UK routes where multiple carriers now fight for the same passengers. Set a fare alert, and remember that launch-season and early-booking windows consistently offer the best prices on new routes.