Air Canada Increasing Flights from Montreal and Toronto

New Flights from Canada Starting in November

Air Canada has announced a new Montreal – St. Maarten flight and a doubling of its existing twice weekly Toronto Pearson (YYZ), starting November 17, 2024. Flight AC 1362, will leave Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL) for St. Maarten's Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) at 10:15 am and arrive on island at 3:55 pm, while the return flight AC1363 will depart SXM at 4:55 pm to arrive at YUL at 8:55 pm. This new flight will use the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft with a seating capacity of 169, out of which 16 are business class. The increase in flights from Canada means that Air Canada will operate five flights to St. Maarten, the new Montreal route (on Sunday) and the Toronto route, which has been expanded to four, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, as per Air Canada’s 2024/2025 winter schedule.

“This is good news for us,” said Grisha Heyliger-Marten, Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic and Telecommunication (TEATT), who celebrated Air Canada's announcement as a positive sign for what can be expected in terms of stay-over passengers in the coming high season.

New Arrivals Terminal at Princess Juliana International Airport

These additional flights from YUL and YYZ to SXM will start after the anticipated reopening of Princess Juliana International Airport's fully renovated arrivals terminal. With a complete reopening of SXM airport in September or October of 2024, this ensures that travelers visiting St. Maarten and St. Martin in the 2024 - 2025 high season from Canada will enjoy a modern and streamlined experience. For travelers leaving the island to return home, the modernized departures terminal has already reopened.  

More Year Round Flights to SXM

Efforts are being made by the St. Maarten government and the tourism bureau to ensure that airlines not only increase flight to SXM during the high season months, but also year round. In spite of the constraints regarding availability of aircraft, Air Canada’s internal performance evaluation has led to identifying potential room for increased flights into SXM.

“Although this is seasonal, we are going to do all within our power to ensure that the flights remain at the same levels beyond the winter season,” Minister Heyliger-Marten commented regarding the recent announcement from Air Canada.​ Recently, St. Maarten Tourism Bureau and the St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association launched a campaign to enhance tourism for the summer season on the horizon, called Twice the Caribbean, Twice the Summer, to boost travel bookings during the part of the year that is traditionally considered the off-peak season.