These airlines paused or cancelled Canada-U.S. flights in the wake of the trade war.
Some of Canada’s major airlines have made changes to their schedules, including pausing some flights between Canada and the United States and increasing domestic flights in the wake of lower demand to fly south, which may be tied to the tariff war between the two countries.
WestJet
WestJet said in an email on Friday that it has suspended these four summer U.S. destinations:
-New York to Calgary
-Orlando to Edmonton
-Austin to Vancouver
-Seattle to Kelowna
“Due to a downward shift in demand, WestJet has updated its summer schedule to help Canadians fly where they want to go,” WestJet said. “Our schedule is continuously being adjusted based on demand.”
On the flip side, the Calgary-based airline said it has seen higher demand for domestic travel, particularly between Eastern and Western Canada.
In response, WestJet recently announced three new domestic routes.
Additionally, it added service between Halifax and Amsterdam, as well as Halifax and Barcelona.
Porter
Toronto-based Porter Airlines has also made changes to meet the increased domestic demand to travel within Canada.
Porter told that 80 per cent of total network capacity during the summer peak period is now dedicated to domestic flights. The figure is up from a previously planned 75 per cent.
“We are mindful of the overall sentiment as it relates to U.S. travel,” Porter said in an emailed statement . “Our goal is to fly where our customers want to travel, and this is a moment when Canada is at the top of many people’s list.”
While Porter hasn’t cancelled any U.S. routes, the airline told it is increasing flights in regions across Canada to meet the demand. It did not provide information on the specific routes.
However, the airline said it added service to Phoenix, San Diego and New York-LaGuardia, and introduced service between Montreal and New York-Newark. It also increased service to Las Vegas and Fort Lauderdale.
“While there may currently be instability with Canada-U.S. travel, we view New York as a key long-term market for Porter,” it wrote. “There is still an overall increase in U.S. travel on Porter flights ... this is a dynamic environment and what happens in the coming months is evolving.”
Air Canada
When asked whether it was changing its routes or flights, Air Canada told CTVNews.ca in an email Friday that it is “adjusting capacity” to U.S. sun destinations, using smaller aircraft and reducing routes in response to the changing market demand.
“We continue to monitor demand and will make adjustments accordingly,” wrote the country’s biggest air carrier. It also said it adjusted its non-stop Vancouver-Washington Dulles flights to connect in Toronto.
It said it has experienced “some softening in the transborder market,” with bookings on the cross-border market overall down about 10 per cent from April to September.
The Montreal-based airline reduced capacity for routes to U.S. leisure destinations such as Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona, Bloomberg reported March 28.
JetBlue
New York-based JetBlue said it has paused plans to introduce a summer seasonal service between Halifax and Boston “because bookings have not met expectations.”
“This is one of the necessary steps we are taking to manage our business through softer-than-expected travel demand this year and economic uncertainty,” JetBlue said in an email to CTVNews.ca Friday.
However, JetBlue added that it’s continuing to serve Vancouver, its only Canadian destination.
“All impacted customers will receive full refunds,” it wrote. “We’ll continue to evaluate the possibility of launching service to Halifax next summer.”
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