Canada Airline Roundup: Goulding To VS; YYZ Adds Eight Carriers; Condor Drops YEG & YHZ

There’s never a dull moment when it comes to the airlines and airports serving Canadians. A week into 2025, here are some of the top changes of interest to travel advisors.

Familiar Face: Stephen Goulding Named VS Country Manager For Canada

As Virgin Atlantic prepares to launch daily service between Toronto and London Heathrow on March 30, the airline has named Stephen Goulding as Country Manager for Canada.

Goulding is a familiar figure in Canadian aviation circles, having held leadership positions at WestJet Group and worked closely with Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic’s joint venture partner.

“I am thrilled to join the North American team at Virgin Atlantic and expand the airline’s footprint in Canada,” Goulding said.

Legal Decision Spurs Condor To Drop Two Canadian Routes

A German court ruling last month means that Lufthansa will no longer be required to maintain an agreement granting leisure airline Condor commercial access to European feeder routes through its Frankfurt base.

The previous agreement helped drive traffic to Condor’s long-haul routes to North America, including five seasonal Canadian destinations. Without it, Condor has reviewed its summer 2025 flight schedule and made the decision to drop routes to Edmonton (YEG) and Halifax (YHZ). The eye-catching Condor livery will still be sighted this summer in Vancouver (YVR), Calgary (YYC), and Toronto (YYZ).

Condor says it will continue to push for “fair competition” with the much-larger Lufthansa, including through further legal actions. In the meantime, it has also dropped four routes to smaller U.S. destinations for summer 2025, including BWI, MSP, SAT, and PHX.

To keep up to date with Condor’s North American offerings, you can visit the carrier’s agent portal here.

YYZ Tops North American Airports With Eight New Carriers In 2024

Toronto Pearson welcomed eight new airlines in 2024, more than any other large airport in North America. Here’s a quick summary:

Sun Country: With twice-weekly flights to Minneapolis, Sun Country serves approximately 100,000 passengers travelling between Toronto and the U.S. city each year.

ITA Airways: Toronto Pearson is the Italian flag carrier’s first Canadian destination, with daily flights to Rome during the summer.

Swiss International Air Lines: Swiss is offering five weekly summer flights to Zurich from Toronto.

Alaska Airlines: More than 140,000 passengers travel between Toronto and Seattle each year, with many taking advantage of these daily AS flights to access Alaska-bound cruise ships.

BermudAir: With three weekly flights to Bermuda, this young and growing carrier provides Toronto-area passengers with direct flights to the island nation.

Hainan Airlines: After pausing operations out of YYZ for the pandemic and beyond, the carrier has resumed service, flying to Beijing once a week.

Qatar Airways: With three weekly flights to Doha, QR’s route from Toronto Pearson unlocks a range of destinations for travellers heading to the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Royal Air Maroc: Morocco is a hot vacation destination for Canadians, and the national carrier offers three weekly flights to the storied city of Casablanca.