The Canadian low-cost carrier Canada Jetlines has announced a new international route departing from its travel hub of Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). Starting on March 2023, the airline will begin flying to Cancun International Airport (CUN) in Mexico, becoming the seventh Canadian company to fly to this Mexican destination.

A new carrier in Cancun

On Tuesday, Canada Jetlines confirmed a new international nonstop service between Toronto Pearson and Cancun International. This route would be Canada Jetlines’ first to Mexico and will begin in March 2023 with two flights per week and increased frequency to follow. Duncan Bureau, Chief Commercial Officer of Canada Jetlines, said in a statement,

“Our Canada Jetlines family is thrilled to launch service to another international destination in Mexico this winter – continuing expansion of our international network of convenient leisure and business travel. Canada is one of the top countries for international tourists to Mexico, and we are pleased to connect Canadians to their favorite sun destinations as they begin to plan winter vacations.”

Canada Jetlines will employ its Airbus A320 fleet to launch this route. The airline currently has two Airbus A320ceos, with an age of 11 years old. These planes have the capacity to carry 174 passengers, and Canada Jetlines expect to have 15 narrowbody jets by 2025.

The new Canadian carrier currently flies two routes, departing from Toronto to Las Vegas (LAS) and Melbourne (MLB). Canada Jetlines offers three flights per week overall, according to data from Cirium. On its website, the airline offers flights from Toronto to Calgary and Vancouver as well.

A Canada Jetlines Airbus A320 in Kitchener, Ontario
Photo: The Bold Bureau/Shutterstock.

Is the Canada-Cancun market getting dangerously saturated?

Once Canada Jetlines launch its twice-weekly flight to Cancun, it will become the seventh Canadian company to fly to this leisure destination from Toronto International. According to data from Cirium, there are currently 55 weekly flights between both cities. Sunwing Airlines offers the largest number of flights with 15 weekly departures, while Air Canada offers the largest capacity with 3,814 seats available on 11 weekly departures. Other carriers flying in this city pair are Flair Airlines, Air Transat, Swoop, and WestJet.

Get the latest aviation news straight to your inbox: Sign up for our newsletters today.

Looking beyond Toronto, there are 200 weekly flights (and 44,127 seats available each week) between Canada and Cancun. The Mexican leisure destination is the most popular when looking at Caribbean destinations (Cancun, Fort Lauderdale, Havana, Orlando, Miami, Nassau, and Punta Cana).

A view of the traffic recovery between Canada and Mexico in 2022
Photo: SICT.

In 2022, there were 1.42 million passengers between Canada and Cancun, according to data from the Mexican government. Overall, there were 3.16 million passengers between Mexico and Canada, meaning 45% of all passengers between these two countries arrived or departed from Cancun.

The arrival of Canada Jetlines shows a market that is highly contested. It will be interesting to see if Canada Jetlines, a new startup, manages to get a hold of the Toronto-Cancun market. It won’t be easy, competing against more established airlines –both in the full-service and low-cost business models– such as Air Canada, WestJet, and Sunwing.

Have you flown with Canada Jetlines? How did you find the experience? Let us know in the comments below.