As Canadian travel to the U.S. plummets in recent months, Calgary-based airline WestJet is removing more flights across the border.
The airline is suspending flights to Austin from Vancouver until October, and is halting trips to other U.S. destinations — including Orlando, Los Angeles and Chicago — at different times this summer.
Instead, WestJet is adding more flights within Canada, as the airline says it has seen an increase in demand for domestic travel. In April, WestJet announced three new domestic routes, including Winnipeg to St. John’s, Saskatoon to Halifax, and Regina to Halifax.
Canada’s second-largest airline is also reintroducing its Vancouver to Halifax route, and are increasing the frequency of domestic flights to meet the demands. In addition to the domestic travel, WestJet says it’s increasing connectivity to Europe, with new service from Halifax to Amsterdam and Barcelona.
“As demand for summer travel continues to evolve, we are focused on flying people where they want to go,” John Weatherill, WestJet executive vice-President and chief commercial officer, said in an April statement.
In February, Air Canada, Canada’s largest airline, announced they were cutting flights to Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona by 10 per cent. The airline added in March that it was also using smaller aircraft for trips to those U.S. destinations, saying it is “experiencing a softening in the transborder market.”
OAG Aviation, a U.K.-based global travel data company, released findings in April showing “a sharp decline” in bookings and a more modest “downward trend” in airline capacity — or the number of seats — for flights to the U.S. from Canada.
The number of bookings made in March for flights to the U.S. between April and September have dropped by an average of 72 per cent compared with bookings made in March 2024 for travel between the same months, according to the OAG data.
Canadians feeling less safe about going to the U.S.
A recent Leger poll, conducted for the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS), suggests Canadians feel unwelcome and unsafe travelling south of the border amid the repeated annexationist rhetoric toward Canada from U.S. President Donald Trump and the pressures of an ongoing trade war.
The findings of the poll, published as Prime Minister Mark Carney sat down with Trump for their first in-person meeting at the White House on Tuesday, follows months of declining travel to the U.S. — which may “get worse before it gets better,” Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the ACS, told the Star earlier this week.
“I think it’s good for neither country that we feel this level of anxiety towards our neighbours,” Jedwab said. “I hope the prime minister, who seems very good at this type of dialogue, takes that into consideration in terms of the ongoing efforts at rebuilding our relationship.
Of the 1,626 Canadians surveyed in the Leger poll, 52 per cent feel “it is no longer safe” travelling to the U.S., while 29 per cent disagreed and 19 per cent were unsure. Respondents over 55 and residents of Atlantic Canada, British Columbia and Ontario felt most strongly against cross-border travel.
However, people aged 18 to 54 and residents of Alberta were less inclined to agree. Fifty-four per cent of respondents say they feel unwelcome in the U.S., while 27 per cent disagreed and 19 per cent were uncertain.
The survey was conducted from May 1 to 3, 2025. For comparison purposes, a margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey. A probability sample of 1,626 respondents would have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent — 19 times out of 20.
With files from Kevin Jiang and Nathan Bawaan
