Flight bookings have plunged to an all time low between the two allied neighboring nations of Canada and US, experts stipulate that the main cause would be the tariff war initiated by President Donald Trump’s actions.
According to a March 26 report from OAG aviation, a flight analytics company.
“This sharp drop suggests that travellers are holding off on making reservations, likely due to ongoing uncertainty surrounding the broader trade dispute,” the report states.
Airline Responses
Airlines are responding by cutting seat capacity to Canada’s southern neighbor for the summer months and through October, according to the aviation analytics provider.
The most significant airline capacity cuts are scheduled for July and August, during the peak travel summer period. Airlines cut more than 320,000 seats worth of flight capacity from March through October between the two countries, according to the OAG report.
Major Loss for Canadian Airlines
Canadian airlines are expected to be hit harder than their American counterparts because the nation’s residents are driving the downward trend, experts say. Americans typically prefer to fly American airlines because they might have loyalty accounts with a carrier, for example.
Flair Airlines, a budget airline based in Canada, said last week it is cutting flights from Toronto to Nashville, as well as from Calgary to Las Vegas and Edmonton to Las Vegas.