Air Canada has suspended nine flight routes for the summer.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Have your travel plans been disrupted because of the rising price of oil? You’re not alone.
Many of the world’s major airlines have suspended flights, reduced capacity or cancelled routes altogether as they struggle to cope with soaring jet fuel costs caused by the continuing war in Iran.
Unprofitable shorter flight routes have been affected the most.
Air Canada
The country’s largest airliner has suspended nine flight routes, mainly affecting routes out of Toronto Pearson International Airport and Montreal–Trudeau International Airport. This includes flights to Dubai and Tel Aviv, which have been suspended since February and will remain cancelled until September.
Domestically, flights between Fort McMurray, Alta., and Vancouver will be suspended effective May 28, and flights between Yellowknife and Toronto are suspended starting Aug. 30. It is currently unknown when those routes will resume.
Both Toronto and Montreal are suspending flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York effective June 1, but the route will resume Oct. 25. The route between Salt Lake City and Toronto will be temporarily suspended on June 30, returning in 2027.
International flight suspensions beyond the U.S. are only affecting Montreal-Trudeau International Airport thus far. The new planned route to Guadalajara will not go ahead yet, and flights to Algiers have been suspended for the summer, with plans to resume in 2027.
Air Canada did not respond for comment about if any further flights would be suspended for the summer season.
Here’s what to do if your flight is cancelled because of fuel costs
Air Transat
Air Transat has reduced its capacity by 6 per cent between May and October. The Montreal-based airliner has mainly consolidated routes to Europe and the Caribbean, citing “the unprecedented aviation-fuel crisis and exceptional volatility in energy markets.”
“The jet fuel supply chain environment remains highly complex and volatile. The adjustments we have made to our program are intended to maintain reliable service for customers,” the airline said in a statement to The Globe.
The airline also noted that it reduced operations on the Montreal route to Guadalajara, and has postponed the launch of its Toronto to Accra route. The airline had previously suspended flights to Cuba from February through to the end of October.
WestJet
WestJet Airlines is reducing the number of available seats in June by 5.5 per cent. The Calgary-based airliner previously said available seats in April and May would be reduced by 1 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively.
The airline said it has not made schedule changes because of recent news of fuel availability. However, it is shifting some capacity to domestic markets and away from Caribbean and Latin American destinations, including Cuba and Jamaica, according to Cirium, an aviation data company.
Air China
Multiple carriers in China and Southeast Asia – including Air China, China Eastern, Spring Airlines and Malaysia-based AirAsia – have reduced or suspended services between China and popular destinations such as Bangkok, Phuket, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, according to domestic media.
Sienna Parulis-Cook, marketing and communications director at Dragon Trail Research, noted that flights between China and Southeast Asia still operating were about 18 per cent more expensive on average than at the same time last year.
Air France
Air France has suspended its Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh flights until May 10.
Delta
The U.S. carrier has cancelled its New York-Tel Aviv flights and delayed the restart of its Atlanta-Tel Aviv route until Sept. 5. It said the launch of its Boston-Tel Aviv route, planned for late October, has also been delayed until further notice.
The airline also said it was scrapping plans to add more flights and seats in June, leaving about 3.5 per cent fewer seats than originally planned.
“Delta routinely adjusts its network as part of its normal planning process. As part of our regular schedule updates, we’ve made adjustments across a small number of routes,” Delta said in a statement to The Globe.
The Atlanta-based airliner noted that the changes include a mix of frequency reductions and seasonal pauses across the U.S., transatlantic and Latin America markets.
International Airlines Group
IAG-owned British Airways is reducing flights to the Middle East when services resume, permanently dropping Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as a destination, while adding capacity to India and countries in Africa.
It plans to reduce services to Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv to one daily flight by July 1, and to cut Riyadh services to one daily flight from two by mid-May. Changes apply through the summer season until Oct. 24.
IAG’s Spanish low-cost airline Iberia Express has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv through May 31.
Lufthansa Group
Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Edelweiss Air have suspended flights to Dubai and Tel Aviv until May 31. Flights to Abu Dhabi; Amman; Beirut; Muscat; Tehran; Erbil, Kurdistan; Riyadh and Dammam, Saudi Arabia are suspended until the end of October.
Low-cost carrier Eurowings suspended flights to Tel Aviv until May 11, to Beirut and Erbil until May 14, and to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman until October. ITA Airways also extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv, Riyadh and Dubai until May 31.
Last week, Lufthansa Group shut down one of its regional subsidiaries, CityLine, to cut costs. The group also grounded 20,000 short-haul flights through October.
Ryanair
Europe’s biggest flight carrier announced on Friday that it will close its operating base in Berlin and reduce its flights to and from Germany’s capital by 50 per cent in its 2026-2027 winter schedule, citing higher fees and taxes.
All seven Berlin-based aircraft will be relocated to lower-cost airports in other European countries such as Sweden, Slovakia, Albania and Italy, the Ireland-based company said in a statement. On April 1, the airline’s CEO Michael O’Leary said Ryanair would start looking at cancelling some flights if there is a risk to the supply of jet fuel in June, July or August.
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines has permanently cancelled service between Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. starting June 4.
United Airlines
United Airlines has continued a suspension on flights to Dubai and Tel Aviv, which will hold until September.
A March memo to employees from United CEO Scott Kirby mentioned that the airliner would also be “tactically pruning flying that’s temporarily unprofitable in the face of high oil prices.”
This includes cancelling red eyes and flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays during Q2 and Q3.
United flew more passengers in the first three months of this year than in any January to March period in its history, but slashed its profit forecast for the year.
With reports from Eric Atkins, the Associated Press and Reuters
