Canada’s Biggest Airline Keeps Shrinking Its Map of America

Air Canada is cancelling five more routes to U.S. destinations for 2027: Montreal to Seattle, Vancouver to Nashville, Vancouver to Raleigh-Durham, Toronto Billy Bishop to Boston, and Toronto Pearson to Charleston, South Carolina. The Charleston flight was Air Canada’s only direct link between Canada and South Carolina and has been cancelled indefinitely.

The airline points to weaker demand. Canadian travel to the United States has fallen since repeated annexation threats from President Donald Trump and several rounds of tariffs. Statistics Canada figures show Canadians made 1.9 million return trips from the U.S. in September, up 6.8 percent on a year earlier, but air trips remain 18.7 percent below 2024 levels.

The pain is uneven. A University of Toronto School of Cities report found trips to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, fell by more than 65 percent between 2024-25 and 2025-26. Air Canada had already suspended the Charleston service earlier this year because of high jet fuel prices, and in July it cut winter flights from Montreal to Detroit and Minneapolis and from Toronto to Indianapolis.

The carrier is not leaving the U.S. market. It plans to add Toronto to Louisville, Montreal to Indianapolis and Edmonton to Newark in summer 2027. WestJet and Air Transat have also trimmed U.S. flying this year, so the shift appears to be industry-wide rather than one airline’s decision.

Sources: Global News