Air Canada Cuts 5 US Routes: See All Major Flight Changes Now

Credit: Shutterstock Published Aug 18, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough University and Cranfield University, James has a PhD in airline strategy. James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Analyst at anna.aero. He taught airline strategy and economics to undergraduate and postgraduate students for five years and has worked closely with multiple carriers on route and market intelligence projects. He is based near London, UK. Sign in to your Simple Flying account Air Canada is comfortably the leading operator between Canada and the US. In the 12 months to May 2026, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) shows that the Star Alliance member transported 10.4 million round-trip passengers. The carrier had 37% of the large market. Influenced by weaker demand from the current political and economic situation and more, Air Canada's US traffic fell by 17% compared to the prior 12 months. The carrier's reduction was more than for the entire Canada-US market (-12%) and for WestJet (-21%). Air Canada Has Ceased These Five US Routes Credit: Shutterstock The carrier's transborder network was explored using OAG data. This involved examining all the routes operated between January 2025 and July 2026 and then comparing that network with what's planned from August until June 2027. This reflects what is known as of August 18 and may change. This process identified that the following five markets have been removed, with this article simply summarizing the situation. Air Canada last flew between Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) and Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) in July 2026, supposedly influenced by the then higher jet fuel price. It might have made the table, but flights are due to resume in June 2027. Other routes are in a similar situation. Air Canada most recently flew from Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL) to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) in October 2025. This long transborder link is due to return in May 2027. Then there's Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU), which last had the carrier's flights in July 2026. Passengers will have to wait until May 2027 for nonstop service to resume. Air Canada Between YUL & New Orleans Credit: Air Canada This route, which covered 1,211 nautical miles (2,243 km) on a great circle basis each way, did not last long. OAG shows that Air Canada Express inaugurated service in February 2023, with the 76-seat CRJ900 being initially deployed. Air Transat briefly served the market in 2019 and 2020 and even more infrequently in 2021 and 2022. The lower-cost unit Rouge operated between November 2023 and May 2024, nearly always on the 136-seat Airbus A319 for the higher winter traffic. Express returned in May 2024, just on the 76-seat Embraer E175. Mainline Air Canada had just eight round-trip flights, all on the 137-seat Airbus A220-300 (shown above). That was shortly before the link ended. Between February 2023 and March 2025, the US DOT indicates that 21,871 round-trip passengers were transported. Air Canada filled just 67.7% of the available seats, which was, of course, very low. In January 2024, the load factor fell to just 43.9%. Even the airline's service on the core YYZ route did not do well. In the same two-plus years, only 73.0% of seats were filled. Surprisingly, the DOT shows that the cessation of YUL flights did not lead to a traffic boost from YYZ, partly because that route had a big capacity cut. These Additional US Routes Are Coming Credit: Shutterstock As mentioned earlier, Air Canada will reintroduce flights from YYZ to SLC, YUL to SEA, and YVR to RDU next year. The A220-300 will be deployed to SLC and SEA, while RDU will be in the hands of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. But that is not all. On October 26, a day after northern carriers switch to winter schedules based on IATA slot seasons, the airline will lift off from YUL to Fort Myers. A twice-weekly service will operate on the A220-300. This transborder route last saw Air Canada in 2023.