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Air Canada is cancelling five routes to destinations in the United States in the coming months.
They are from Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport (YTZ), Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL) and Vancouver International Airport(YVR).
By April, the airline will cease flying between Toronto (YYZ) and Charleston, S.C., while four other routes — Toronto (YTZ)–Boston, Montreal–Seattle, Vancouver–Nashville and Vancouver–Raleigh-Durham, N.C. — will be cut in May.
“Air Canada regularly reviews its schedule to ensure capacity is aligned with customer demand and travel patterns,” Air Canada spokesperson Sean Davidson said in an email to the Toronto Sun.
“As part of that process, we have made a commercial decision to adjust some routes next summer,” he added, confirming the aforementioned routes.
Air Canada will continue to fly to Nashville, Raleigh-Durham and Seattle from other Canadian airports, including Nashville–Toronto; Nashville–Montreal; Raleigh-Durham–Toronto; Raleigh-Durham–Montreal; Seattle–Toronto and Seattle–Vancouver, Davidson noted, as well as service continuing between Toronto Pearson and Boston.
Political tensions complicating tourism
The news comes as air travel between Canada and the United States has plunged in recent years.
Despite a steady increase in cross-border travel via car over the summer, Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. in July were down below their July 2024 level.
In April , Canadian residents returned from 2.4 million trips to the U.S., an increase of 1.8% from the same month one year earlier and the first rise since January 2025.
But return trips by air at the same time decreased 7.1% year over year to 805,900, and return trips by cruise ship fell 38.5% year over year to 3,900.
The travel trends among Canadian residents come amid the political tensions between Canada and the U.S.
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There are some new routes
Despite the demand, or lack thereof, Air Canada is still expanding.
Earlier this month, Air Canada announced new routes for next summer with its partner United Airlines, including service between Toronto and Louisville, Ky., Montreal and Indianapolis, Ind., and Edmonton and Newark, N.J.
Air Canada will also increase capacity between Edmonton and San Francisco by deploying the larger Airbus A220 on the route, the company said in an Oct. 16 press release.
The seasonal routes from the U.S. to Canada will begin next summer.
Air Canada is also expanding its service to include a new route from Denver to Ottawa and Quebec City, will increase flights between Washington, D.C. and Quebec City, and launch new seasonal service to St. John’s from Newark. It will also increase its daily seats between Denver and Winnipeg by 65%.