Canadian Summer Flight Bookings to US Down 70% From Last Year, Data Shows

It appears as though another way Canadians are protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs is by not booking summer flights to visit their southern neighbors.

Canadian flight bookings to the U.S. this April through September are down by more than 70% year-over-year, according to new OAG data.

The aviation analytics firm compared future bookings made a year ago in March 2024 with those recorded this month and found that they had plummeted, with a 71.4% drop in bookings for July representing the smallest decline. April flight bookings plunged 75.7%, with 295,982 made this month, down from 1,218,570 a year ago.

“The decline is striking—bookings are down by over 70% in every month through to the end of September,” OAG said. “This sharp drop suggests that travelers are holding off on making reservations, likely due to ongoing uncertainty surrounding the broader trade dispute.”

Canadian Airlines Trying to Adjust Schedules

Canadian airlines are adjusting their schedules as best they can, OAG wrote.

“Short-notice adjustments to schedules are always challenging for airlines, especially for the summer season when slot availability in alternate markets may not be easy to find,” said OAG.

And WestJet, Canada’s second-largest airline behind Air Canada, is doing just that.

“[S]ince the beginning of March, WestJet have added an additional 114 flights to Europe as they actively place capacity outside of the United States; Dublin and Edinburgh are the two airports benefiting the most from these changes,” said OAG.

Air Canada, however, has not followed suit because of limited availability at Europe’s major hubs.

“Air Canada typically has larger proportions of connecting traffic across its network, much of which connects at a U.S. hub to one of its Star Alliance partners, making it more difficult to manage when flights are cancelled,” said OAG.

OAG added that winter bookings are also at risk due to the trade dispute.

“For the airlines, it will be a nervous few months, especially as the traditional ‘snowbird’ market from Canada to the U.S. could be badly impacted next year if the situation doesn’t improve quickly.”