WestJet Cuts Nine US Routes This Summer Amid Demand Drop
WestJet will suspend nine transborder routes during parts of the summer season as the Canadian carrier grapples with a downturn in demand for travel to the United States. The airline pointed to escalating political tensions between Canada and the U.S., including U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canadian goods and his offhand suggestion that Canada become the “51st state,” as factors that have chilled cross-border leisure and business travel.
The most extensive suspension will affect the Vancouver–Austin service, which will be paused from May through October. In addition, WestJet will halt four routes for the entire month of June: Calgary to Fort Lauderdale, Edmonton to Chicago O’Hare, St. John’s to Orlando, and Winnipeg to Orlando. Two more routes—Kelowna to Seattle and Winnipeg to Los Angeles—will be suspended from June through August, while Edmonton to Atlanta and Winnipeg to Las Vegas will be paused during July and August.
A WestJet spokesperson told Aviation Week that the carrier has observed “a downward shift in transborder travel demand,” prompting a review and adjustment of its summer schedule. The suspensions are temporary, the airline said, and it will continue to evaluate opportunities to reinstate direct service on these routes once market conditions improve. In the meantime, WestJet plans to redirect capacity to domestic transcontinental flights, where it has seen increased demand, particularly between Eastern and Western Canada.
The wave of U.S. route suspensions coincided with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meeting with President Trump in Washington, where Carney emphasized that “Canada is not for sale [and] won’t be for sale, ever.” That high-profile encounter underscored the broader economic and political backdrop against which Canadian carriers are now recalibrating their international networks.
Canada’s airlines are debating whether the current decline in U.S.-bound demand will prove temporary or persist over the longer term, depending on the outcome of tariff negotiations and whether the rhetoric eases. At the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Americas in April, Maciej Wilk, CEO of ultra-low-cost carrier Flair Airlines, noted that “the billion-dollar question is whether this is something that will continue for the next three to four years, or emotions will cool down and the summer of 2026 will be more or less back to normal.”
WestJet’s decision to suspend summer routes follows similar moves by other Canadian carriers weighing the costs of operating under uncertain demand. For WestJet, which has built a reputation on connecting secondary Canadian cities with U.S. leisure destinations, the shift represents a strategic pivot to solidify its core domestic network. The airline has already announced plans to add capacity on key transcontinental services, reinforcing its focus on strengthening coast-to-coast connectivity within Canada.
Industry analysts warn that if political tensions remain high, Canadian carriers could face prolonged softness in U.S. traffic, potentially reshaping transborder air service for years to come. In the short term, travelers who had booked on the affected WestJet routes will be rebooked or refunded, and the airline encourages customers to monitor its website for the latest schedule updates.
As Canada and the United States navigate their trade and diplomatic relationship, airlines on both sides of the border will need to stay agile, balancing network ambitions with shifting passenger sentiment. For now, WestJet’s summer schedule adaptations signal the growing impact of geopolitics on North American aviation—and the need for carriers to rapidly align capacity with evolving market realities.
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