While Tenerife celebrates the consolidation of a direct air bridge with North America, the tourism sector in southern Gran Canaria is observing Air Canada's strategic move with a mixture of indifference and caution. It remains unclear whether the Maspalomas business in Gran Canaria will benefit from the new North American connectivity. The Canadian flag carrier has confirmed that it will operate nonstop routes from Toronto and Montreal to Tenerife South Airport starting this October. This connection, which will continue throughout the winter season until April 2026, positions the neighboring island as the main hub for attracting high-value travelers from Canada and the United States, markets that Gran Canaria has not yet managed to attract on a large scale or directly.
The service will be operated with the new Airbus A321XLR, a long-range, single-aisle aircraft configured with 182 seats, including 14 in its exclusive Signature Class. With three weekly flights—two from Toronto and one from Montreal—the Tenerife Island Council aims to capitalize on a market that already showed signs of strength in 2025, when the island welcomed 38.119 North American passengers. Growth in the Canadian segment is particularly noteworthy, rising from just 3.331 travelers in 2019 to over 8.000 last year, underscoring an upward trend that hoteliers in southern Gran Canaria continue to view as a distant opportunity given their historical reliance on European markets.
Air Canada's expansion not only responds to holiday demand but also aims to establish Tenerife as a logistics hub for strategic sectors such as the audiovisual industry, corporate tourism, and combined cruise itineraries. Mark Galardo, the airline's executive vice president, pointed out that this route strengthens the company's global network from the Americas, facilitating the movement of travelers with professional and academic connections. This diversification of the visitor profile is precisely the objective that Tenerife's tourism authorities are pursuing to reposition their destination at a higher spending level.
In southern Gran Canaria, the focus remains on optimizing traditional source markets such as the UK and Germany, while Tenerife absorbs the growth from key source cities like New York, Miami, Chicago, and San Francisco. Figures for 2025 reveal that the volume of American passengers on the neighboring island has almost doubled compared to pre-pandemic levels, reaching 30.093 travelers. While one island is building its transatlantic connectivity with Star Alliance, the other relies on its strong perception of safety and climate to retain its market share in Europe, in a scenario where direct connectivity is beginning to make a difference in attracting new tourism capital.
