Air Canada to Cut 5 More US Destinations Due to Low Demand

An Air Canada Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft is shown next to a gate at Trudeau Airport in Montreal on March 13, 2019. The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes

Air Canada says it plans to eliminate five routes next summer, including all direct flights to South Carolina, following its earlier cuts to U.S. routes this winter because of weak demand.

An Air Canada spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the company regularly reviews its schedule to align flights with customer demand and travel patterns. Following its latest review, the airline “made a commercial decision to adjust some routes next summer.”

Those routes include Vancouver to Nashville, Tennessee; Vancouver to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Toronto to Charleston, South Carolina; Montreal to Seattle, Washington; and Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport to Boston, Massachusetts.

The spokesperson said Air Canada would expand its connectivity to the United States for next summer, including launching new services between Toronto and Louisville, Kentucky, Montreal and Indianapolis, Indiana, and Edmonton and Newark, New Jersey. It also planned to increase its capacity between Edmonton and San Francisco by deploying a larger Airbus A220 on the route.

Canadians made 1.9 million return trips by plane and by car from the United States in September, a 6.8 percent year-over-year increase, according to data from Statistics Canada. Air travel trips rose 11.6 percent from the same month last year, but remained 18.7 percent below 2024 levels.

Air Canada’s latest cuts follow a July 6 announcement that the airline would pause and reduce service to several U.S. destinations this winter due to weak demand.

The suspended routes were similar to those that Air Canada paused last winter and included Montreal to Detroit, Montreal to Minneapolis, and Toronto to Indianapolis. The airline also said it would delay the start of seasonal flights from Ottawa to Fort Lauderdale, Quebec City to Orlando, and Montreal to Palm Beach.

Additionally, the airline said in June that it was cutting and pausing some routes for summer 2026. Air Canada also brought up fuel costs, saying that it suspended its full-year 2026 financial guidance in April due to “volatility and uncertainty in relation to jet fuel prices for the second half of the year.”

WestJet announced in the spring that it was cancelling 10 summer routes to the United States, citing a notable decline in demand. Also, Air Transat announced in April that it would cut flights from its schedule, citing higher fuel prices due to the Iran war.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.