Canadians are pulling back from visiting the US — and airlines are paying attention.
Montreal-based Air Transat will no longer fly to the US this summer, with its last flight across the border operating in early June.
In March last year, it operated nine routes to and from the US, but that number had dropped to three as of early 2026.
At the moment, Air Transat flies from Montreal to Orlando and to Fort Lauderdale, and from Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale.
Air Transat, which focuses on vacation travel, was named the world’s best leisure airline by Skytrax for the third year in a row in 2025.
An airline spokesperson told Business Insider that its presence in the US “remains very marginal today,” with only two of its 67 destinations in the US.
“This adjustment is part of a proactive management of our capacity, as we focus our efforts on markets where Air Transat is best positioned and that allow us to optimize the deployment of our resources,” they said.
The spokesperson added that its winter schedule “will be determined at a later date.”
WestJet, Canada’s second-biggest airline, is also slashing flights across the border for this summer.
It’s suspending 16 routes, including big city pairings like Boston to Vancouver and Los Angeles to Toronto.
The airline has reduced its “full-year transborder flying by close to 10%,” a spokesperson told Business Insider.
“We saw a notable decline in transborder travel demand throughout 2025,” they said.
“As such, WestJet has redeployed its fleet by increasing capacity on routes Canadians want to fly.”
Canadians’ travel demand has sunk since President Donald Trump took power early last year.
Last month, capacity was down 10% on flights from Canada to the US compared to a year earlier, according to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics firm.
Canadian residents made 1.6 million return trips from the US last month, down 24.3% from a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada.
Tensions flared when the US imposed a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico last March. It sparked a “Buy Canadian” movement and helped Prime Minister Mark Carney win last April’s elections.
Trump has also referred to Canada as the “51st state.” Following Canada’s trade talks with China earlier this year, he threatened a 100% tariff on Canadian goods and to block the opening of a bridge between Detroit and Ontario.
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