Air Canada drops winter flights to US tourist destination

New York Post

16 hours ago

No flying south this winter.
Air Canada has axed its once-popular winter route between Toronto and Jacksonville, Florida, adding to a change in flight plans the airline has made in recent years to accommodate a shift in travel demand.
Trips aboard the Great White North's flagship carrier between Toronto Pearson International and Jacksonville International will be suspended beginning in November, TheStreet.com reported.
4 Air Canada planes sit on the tarmac of Toronto Pearson International Airport on March 31, 2025.
Getty Images
The flights between 'YYZ' and 'JAX' will return for the spring and summer demand in March 2026.
'If we can derisk this a little bit and move and be a bit proactive and move capacity into other sectors [where] we see strength, I think that's the right move right now in this context,' Air Canada executive vice president of revenue Mark Galardo told investors in March, according to the outlet.
Air Canada is the only airline that currently operates direct flights to the northeast corner of Florida from Hogtown.
The two-and-a-half-hour-plus flight is flown aboard a Bombardier CRJ 900 operated by Jazz Aviation, an Air Canada subsidiary.
The plane can seat up to 76 passengers, according to aviation news outlet Simple Flying.
Demand from loyal Air Canada travelers to 'Jax' dropped as trade relations between the US and Canada grew rocky, the outlet reported.
4 An Air Canada plane flies over a Canadian flag at Toronto Pearson Airport on March 31, 2025.
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The back-and-forth trade rift took another turn Monday when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney scrapped a plan to enforce a new digital service tax on American tech firms.
The about-face came after President Trump blasted the 'foolish' move as a 'direct and blatant attack' on the United States.
Trump ripped the tax and quickly vowed to set a new tariff rate on Canadian goods within the next week, threatening to upend US-Canada relations once again.
'We have just been informed that Canada … has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country,' Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday.
4 Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney talks with President Donald Trump at the G7 Summit on June 16, 2025.
AP
Air Canada has already cut other routes between Canada and several prominent American tourist cities this year.
Flights out of Vancouver International to Miami, FL., Houston, Texas, and Washington DC were slimmed down in March, cutting weekly departures for July and August.
WestJet announced in April it would cut its flights out of Vancouver and Edmonton to several
'Due to a downward shift in demand, WestJet has updated its summer schedule to help Canadians fly where they want to go,' the Calgary-based airline said, according to TheStreet.com. 'Our schedule is continuously being adjusted based on demand.'
4 Air Canada has already cut other routes between Canada and several prominent American tourist cities this year.
Getty Images
Politicians and citizens in the Great White North have also become concerned with Trump's immigration policies, targeting immigrants residing in the United States illegally, who have overstayed their visas or have been charged with, or are wanted for, dangerous crimes.
Canadians took approximately 39 million trips to the US in 2024, accounting for roughly 75 percent of all international trips out of Canada, according to Simple Flying.
The trips saw a slight drop in a year-over-year comparison four months into Trump's second term, decreasing by 14 percent in April and 24 percent in May.
American-based airlines however have reported an increase in flights between US and Canada over the same time.
United Airlines increased its number of flights to Canada by nearly 3.5 percent since last year while Alaska Airlines saw a 14.5 percent increase, the outlet reported.