Air Canada adds Dubrovnik to summer 2027

Air Canada will launch seasonal nonstop flights between Montreal and Dubrovnik, Croatia starting May 11, 2027. The service, operating three times weekly, will be the first direct link between Canada and the Croatian coastal city in over four decades.

The airline announced the route as part of a broader expansion for summer 2027, which includes five new international destinations and seven new routes. According to the carrier's plans, it will operate more than 125 international routes that season, offering up to 169,000 seats weekly from Canada to over 85 destinations across the Atlantic, Pacific, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America.

Return to the Croatian market

The new Montreal-Dubrovnik route marks Air Canada's return to Croatia with its own aircraft after an absence of several years. The carrier previously served the Croatian capital, Zagreb, but discontinued that route in 1991. Its leisure subsidiary, Air Canada Rouge, briefly resumed service to Zagreb in June 2018 with seasonal flights from Toronto, but that route was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent retirement of Rouge's widebody fleet.

Air Canada itself had planned to take over the Zagreb route in 2022 with Airbus A330-300 aircraft, but withdrew the service from sale before launch. The new Dubrovnik flights will be operated with a 255-seat Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Building on existing travel demand

Dubrovnik is a major tourism destination with a significant North American visitor market, though most travelers currently require a connection. Data from OAG Traffic Analyzer cited by the source shows approximately 170,000 passengers traveled between North America and Dubrovnik in 2025, with about 80% connecting en route. Canada accounted for a small share, with around 6,000 passengers traveling between Montreal and Dubrovnik during the year.

The source reports that Air Canada will need to build local demand but can draw on a wider catchment area through its Montreal hub. Key North American markets for Dubrovnik in the past year included the greater New York area with about 42,000 passengers, Los Angeles and Chicago each with around 15,000, Toronto with 12,000, and Boston with 11,000.

Dubrovnik Airport has previously sought a nonstop Canadian connection, holding talks with Air Transat in 2018 about a potential Toronto service that never materialized. Currently, United Airlines operates the only nonstop service between North America and Dubrovnik, a seasonal flight from Newark.

Airport growth and operations

Dubrovnik Airport, officially renamed Ruđer Bošković Airport, is Europe's 141st-busiest by flight movements. It handled 3,090,245 passengers in 2025, a 4.6% increase from the 2.95 million recorded in 2024. August was a record month, with the airport handling 566,259 passengers.

For September, airlines have scheduled approximately 1,633 flights from Dubrovnik offering roughly 285,387 seats, according to schedule data from Cirium. Ryanair has the largest operation at the airport, with nearly 330 departures planned to destinations including Dublin, London Stansted, Bari, and Krakow.