Air Canada will temporarily suspend multiple flight routes within the country and across the border as jet fuel prices surge globally and experts warn of an impending shortage.
The airline said it made the decision after determining the routes were no longer meeting profitability targets, noting the ongoing war in the Middle East had driven up the price of fuel since the United States attacked Iran at the end of February.
“As we regularly do, we monitor and review our network to ensure that routes are meeting profitability targets,” the airline said in an email to the Star.
“As jet fuel prices have doubled since the start of the Iran conflict and some lower profitability routes and flights are no longer economic, we are making schedule adjustments accordingly.”
The carrier will be halting flights from Toronto and Montreal to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on June 1, with plans to resume months later on Oct. 25. Air Canada will continue to fly to the neighbouring LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.
The airline will also be suspending service between Toronto and Yellowknife at the end of August, and between Fort McMurray and Vancouver in late May.
A transborder flight route between Toronto and Salt Lake City will also be suspended on June 30, with plans to resume in 2027.
Future flight service between Montreal and Guadalajara was also suspended by Air Canada before it could take off.
The total impact of the halted flight routes to Air Canada’s planned capacity will be approximately one per cent, the carrier said in a statement online.
Any travellers who will be affected by the suspended flights will be contacted with alternate travel options, Air Canada said.
Air Transat said it is not planning on reducing, consolidating or cancelling flights because of fuel constraints, adding it is closely monitoring global fuel market developments and the situation is volatile.
Porter Airlines said it had not adjusted its flight schedules due to fuel prices.
As it becomes more expensive for carriers to operate flights, airlines have raised fares and introduced temporary fees.
At the beginning of April, WestJet announced it would be adding a temporary $60 surcharge on certain bookings and consolidated some flights on lower demand routes due to skyrocketing fuel prices. Air Canada later announced it would introduce higher baggage fees.
The head of the International Energy Agency — an intergovernmental organization that provides policy recommendations — warned flight cancellations could begin soon if oil supplies remain blocked by the Iran war.
On Thursday, executive director Fatih Birol told The Associated Press in a Paris interview that Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of remaining jet fuel supplies.
“It’s a dire strait now, and it is going to have major implications for the global economy,” he said. “And the longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation around the world.”
During times of peace, nearly 20 per cent of the world’s traded oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
But, as gas prices climbed in the days following the war’s outbreak, fuel analyst Dan McTeague pointed to export reductions from Qatar and reported attacks in several oil-producing states, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. McTeague warned the reduced global supply would lead to unavoidable surcharges for consumers.
The price of oil has continued to fluctuate in the seven weeks since the war began, often reacting to speculations over a ceasefire or a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
After peace talks fell apart over the weekend, the U.S. began a blockade on Iranian ports and ships from passing through the global oil conduit on Monday. Prior to that, Iran had been blockading non-Iranian oil from flowing through.
On Friday, Iran said it fully reopened the strait to commercial vessels but U.S. President Donald Trump said the American blockade “will remain in full force” until the two countries reach a deal on its nuclear program.
Iran said Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program.
With files from Alicia Wang, The Associated Press and The Canadian Press
