Airlines in Canada are responding to a significant dip in travel to the U.S. by slashing seats on flights to what once were popular vacation destinations for Canadians.
The trade war has diminished Canadians’ enthusiasm to travel down south. A recent report found that summer trips to the U.S. have dropped by over 70 per cent.
Visual Approach Analytics looked at scheduled seats on flights from Canada to the U.S. in April and found where carriers are making cuts.
The weekly data analysis of the commercial aviation market found that leisure destinations are seeing the biggest drop in capacity from Canadian airlines.
Florida is being hit the hardest with a 20 per cent reduction in seats going to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and 12 per cent cuts in seats flying to Orlando International Airport.
“Fort Myers and Palm Beach are down 30 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively, compared to April schedules as they existed on Jan. 1, 2025,” wrote Visual Approach founder Courtney Miller.
Los Angeles International Airport follows closely behind with an 11 per cent dip in seats.
In contrast, the data suggests that vacation spots like Hawaii aren’t seeing any seat cuts to their airports.
“While still a few departing seats from the start, the 50th state appears to be a bit too far for Canadians to consider changing spring travel plans at the last moment,” explained Miller.
Visual Approach found that business hubs fare better. Newark is only down seven per cent, San Francisco saw a two per cent loss in seats, and Boston has seen no seat reductions.
“Seattle and Detroit appear to be the only exceptions for partner hub airline reductions, both down by double digits,” reads the report.
Miller says seat cuts to certain destinations will have negative economic effects that go beyond air travel.
“The effects of reduced travel by Canadians has impacts reaching far further than the airlines themselves — particularly for an industry such as Florida, where hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues have long looked forward to those arrivals from the Great White North,” he explained.
The data cited that anecdotal reports from businesses that rely heavily on tourism suggest the drop in leisure travel is closer to 30 per cent than 10 per cent.
According to April statistics from the OAG, a global travel data company, Air Canada had a 7.4 per cent drop in seats from Canada to the U.S., WestJet cut 8.5 per cent, Porter dropped 15.4 per cent, Flair cut 25.2 per cent and Air Transat dropped 15.4 per cent of its seats.
A lot has changed since the trade war began, with many Canadians showing their support for their country by travelling domestically or everywhere else except the U.S.
The low Canadian dollar is likely also a factor in where people are choosing to travel. Check out which countries the Canadian dollar goes further than in the U.S.
Lastly, stricter entry and exit requirements for foreign nationals visiting our neighbours to the south for over 30 days have been introduced. Whether you plan on going on a short trip down south or staying for longer, here’s what you should know before you cross the U.S. border.
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