Air Canada launches new summer route from Montreal to Amsterdam

A new nonstop Montreal to Amsterdam route will take off this summer thanks to strong demand for European travel, Air Canada announced.

Canada’s flag carrier will fly its Boeing 787 Dreamliners from the country’s second-largest city to the popular Dutch capital five times weekly between June 2 and Oct. 14.

The route will depart Montreal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL) at 10:10 p.m. (local time) on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, arriving at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) at 11 a.m. the following day. The journey will take about six hours and 50 minutes in total.

Flights from AMS will depart at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, arriving at YUL at 3:30 p.m. that same afternoon.

Tickets are available to buy now via Air Canada’s website.

Air Canada already offers direct routes to Amsterdam year-round from Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) and one-stop routes from YUL, with one stopover in either YYZ or Frankfurt Airport (FRA) in Germany.

“We continue to see strong demand for travel to Europe and we are thrilled to increase service and add new, non-stop service between Montreal and Amsterdam for summer 2023, complementing our year-round service between Toronto and the Dutch capital,” the airline’s senior vice president of network planning, Mark Galardo, said of the news.

“With up to double daily flights between Canada and Amsterdam this summer from two of our global hubs, customers on both sides of the Atlantic have an abundance of convenient choices to visit and explore each other’s countries and beyond. Customers can start planning ahead and book with confidence,” Galardo added.

Air Canada currently has its own Aeroplan loyalty program and is a founding member of Star Alliance alongside Lufthansa, Swiss, Thai Airways and United Airlines.

If you’re planning to fly this route, it’s useful to know that you can now enter the Star Alliance lounge at AMS with pay-as-you-go access — not just if you’re a Gold member.

It’s also worth noting that KLM offers nonstop flights from Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and Calgary International Airport (YYC) to AMS. The carrier is a member of SkyTeam, which could now be very useful for Virgin Points-collecting Flying Club members.