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| Air Canada is pivoting to fewer US flights, more to Europe |
As many Canadians have recently decided not to travel to the United States, either declaring this in polls or by cancelling trips, resulting in a drop of some 13 percent by air, airlines are scrambling to meet domestic demand and fewer routes across the border.
For example, WestJet is adding more flights to "markets of strength", including Europe, and sun destinations like Mexico and Cuba.
Air Canada says as of mid-March, transborder bookings were down about 10 percent for the next six months. As a result the airline is adjusting some of its US flights by using smaller aircraft and reducing frequencies of flights.
The Canadian airline has added a new route for summer, Montreal to Edinburgh, and increased the number of flights to Paris, Rome and Athens.
Meanwhile, Discover Airlines, owned by Lufthansa, will launch a Calgary-Munich route.
Porter Airlines is also reducing its summer service to the US and shifting to domestic markets.
Mike Arnot, a spokesman for airline analytics firm Cirium says it's unusual to see such a significant dip in demand for Canada-US travel.
"It's a tough place for the airlines to be," he said.
Cirium analyses data from travel agencies and booking websites, and found summer bookings between major Canadian cities and popular US destinations dropped nearly 20 percent compared to last year.
But bookings for July between popular Canadian destinations increased by about 11 percent compared to 2024.
However, if people are still keen on traveling to the US, they might be able to take advantage of lower air fares, perhaps at the beginning of May, says aviation expert John Gradek.
And strangely, you can thank American President Donald Trump for that.
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